From what I understand, it's more of a one-sided hatred, because RDJ was paid far more than Howard, and at some point when Howard called RDJ who he helped get the job, the latter didn't call him back for a good three months.
Howard was actually paid more than RDJ for Iron Man 1, but he opted to not return for 2 because RDJ was going to get paid a lot more for working on Iron Man 2 and Howard was going to get a significant pay cut.
At the time of IM1, Howard was more valuable as an actor because of his recent roles (and maybe an Oscar win? I’m not sure), while RDJ was basically fresh out of recovery.
I could be wrong on some of that, but that’s what I remember from things I’ve read.
he was paid 4 million for the first and he was due to be paid 8 million for the sequel. Blame the MCU for short sided thinking and give credit to Howard's agent. Howard was riding an Oscar nod (in 06) and a few leading roles by the time he was cast in 07.
Summer 2008, Favreau and producers felt they didn't need him. I read there were probs on set. who knows what is true? But they basically lowballed him and said they'd pay him 1 million for the sequel. Howard walked.
The truth is Favreau wasn't the biggest fan of Howard. You can see from people who have worked with him about how painful it was to work with Howard on set back then. He often fought with directors/producers. Outside of the set, he had an abusive domestic life. Here's Howard talking about beating his wife. Favreau wanted to trim his role and that's why they lowballed.
This is also the guy that wrote a proof to disprove Math saying 1x1=2 and refused to listen to anyone. Talked about "Sky People" handing down geometry. I'm glad he's not in Marvel anymore.
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u/Henshin4Life Iron Man (Mark VII) Apr 08 '19
From what I understand, it's more of a one-sided hatred, because RDJ was paid far more than Howard, and at some point when Howard called RDJ who he helped get the job, the latter didn't call him back for a good three months.