Jessica Chastain has revealed via her Facebook page that she will not appear in Iron Man 3, stating schedule conflicts as her reason for passing on the film.
Chastain wrote:
“Sorry to say that Iron Man 3 isn’t going to work out. My schedule is jammed packed and I can’t fit anything else in. The press announced my possible attachment far too soon. I know many of you wanted me to be involved, and I’m so sorry to disappoint you. Hopefully there’ll be another Marvel film in my future. Shane Black and everyone on the IM3 team are really wonderful. I’m very excited to see the film when it comes out. xx”
Personally, I can’t think of any reason why Chastain would take the part in the first place. It seemed like a rather small role and she doesn’t seem like the type of actress who would want to start dabbling in comic book films, especially when she already had the female lead in Joseph Kosinksi‘s Oblivion and ended up passing on it.
Chastain is currently finishing up Kathryn Bigelow‘s Zero Dark Thirty and once she is done, she’ll only have three films in development. Deadline did state a while back that her schedule was cleared up by the two Eleanor Rigby films having their start dates pushed, but it is unclear if that is still the case.
Stay tuned for news on who will replace Chastain in Iron Man 3.