I’m quite enjoying Favreau’s twittering, it gives me that strange personal window into the Iron Man 2 production cycle. Recent tweets of note to Iron Man followers,

Rehearsed today with Gwyneth. She looks ripped. I gotta read GOOP and see what the hell she’s eating.

Great rehearsal today with Gwyneth, RDJ [Robert Downey Jr.] and Don Cheadle.

Rehearsed today with Mr. Rockwell. http://twitpic.com/2hf93

Sam Rockwell is playing the multi-billionaire villain Justin Hammer:

Jon Favreau has updated his Twitter account to announce the Iron Man 2 shooting status (we’re on Twitter too),

Rehearsals began today on Iron Man 2. Three weeks from shooting and my life is no longer my own. I forgot how overwhelming this process is.

Meanwhile, AICN’s Capone has caught up with Favreau to question him about the recent spate of casting announcements, no more big surprises coming:

Capone: There has been a lot of IRON MAN 2 news flying around in the last few days. What’s true? What’s not?

Jon Favreau: I can’t confirm any casting stuff because there have been no announcements made, but let me say that the people that have deals that should all be finalized in our cast this week, I should hope…it’s a different process being that Marvel is not a big studio and they don’t really have the infrastructure to get things out there; it’s not as streamlined as a studio, so I apologize to the fans for not being able to say things as quickly as possible. But they really want to have legal protections and not officially say things until everything is done. But, I’m very excited about the people that we have. There are no big surprises in casting coming that I can foresee [laughs]. It’s going to be a really, really good group of people and a story that takes advantage of our cast but is in inundated and doesn’t get too complex because of the number of new people that we’re adding, which is always a tar pit for these superhero movies, you always have to make sure that you add the characters in a smart way.

Capone: Are you quietly relieved that Samuel L. Jackson has signed on to play Nick Fury for a billion movies or something like that?

JF: [laughs] I wasn’t worried that Sam signing a nine-picture deal was going to hold up my movie, no. That would have been really bizarre if that had happened.

Favreau had previously ruled out participation in Marvel’s Avengers movie due to their aggressive scheduling – Marvel’s original release date was set for May 2011, one year after the scheduled Iron Man 2 release, which would simply make things impossible. That release date has since been pushed back to May 2012, putting an extra year in The Avengers development cycle. Favreau has previously expressed an interest in helming The Avengers movie and combined with the relaxed scheduling opens the door to an interesting rumor. New spy ‘Fuzzy Dunlop’ spills the beans to AICN:

-Avengers is delayed a year because of financing issues but also because the plan is for Favreau to helm it. Everybody here loves the guy and he wants to do it, but it would have been impossible for him to do before the date change given his Iron Man 2 commitments. Also partly the reason why he agreed to do the Stark sequel on such an accelerated schedule was so he could get given first dibs on this. It would still be a punishing schedule for him, so hes not firmly confirmed yet, but he is certainly the presumptive director at this point.

- Iron Man starts rehearsals in a few days, which is why the casting is finally coming together so quickly.

[...]

Call me Fuzzy Dunlop

Marvel Studios have announced a slew of new superhero movie releases dates in the forthcoming years – of most interest to this crowd are Spider-man 4, now set to appear in screens nationwide on May 6th 2011 and an updated release for Iron Man 2 – now hitting theaters on May 7th 2010 (previously April 20th).

Also of significant interest are the Thor, Captain American and The Avengers movie dates which have been updated to:
Thor – June 17, 2011
The First Avenger: Captain America – July 22, 2011
The Avengers – May 4, 2012

“This new schedule strongly sequences Marvel’s movie debut dates, big screen character introductions and momentum. It maximizes the visibility of our single character-focused films, leading to the highly anticipated release of the multi-character ‘The Avengers’ film in 2012,” said David Maisel, Chairman, Marvel Studios.

Via SHH

And our second major announcement of the week – Scarlett Johansson has been confirmed as The Black Widow in Iron Man 2, replacing the scheduled out Emily Blunt. This confirms the rumors we reported on Valentines day.

This comes via Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily, although unlike the recent Rourke deal, it seems like Johansson did get ‘low-balled’ into this and a whole host of other Marvel movies, including The Avengers. Finke also reveals that Johansson had previously screened for the part and didn’t get it.

I’ve already posted my scoop that Mickey Rourke will play the Russian villain in Iron Man 2 in a Marvel Studios deal that started out lowball and went up a lot. Now I’m told that Emily Blunt won’t be in the sequel and Black Widow will now be played by Scarlett Johannson. (Interesting because Scarlett actually screen-tested for the role and didn’t get it.) But I hear that, unlike Mickey’s money, the deal for her is “just the opposite, a terrible deal made by CAA,” one of my insiders says. “It’s as bad as any deal that I’ve heard. It’s lowball money. And it ties her to countless movies, including that ensemble The Avengers, which is what makes this brutal for a lot of actors.”

How do you feel about Scarlett getting the role? Although very talented I do not see her fitting the part of the Black Widow – it just doesn’t feel right somehow; but I am perfectly happy to be proved wrong.

Excellent, another fine actor confirmed for Iron Man 2. Deadline Hollywood Daily has confirmed the news that Mickey Rourke shall appear in the Iron Man sequel – with a quote significantly higher than the low $250k we’d previously reported (and the cause of the casting worries). This news is particularly encouraging given Rourke’s recent comments – “Right now, we’re not doing Iron Man 2.”

I just heard that ICM has scored its second casting deal for Marvel’s Iron Man 2. After at first being low-balled by the studio to the tune of $250K, Rourke has signed on for the role of the Russian villain in the sequel after his agent David Unger got the quote up to a “significant” level despite this punishing economic climate where the studios are taking advantage of talent. (No wonder Mickey kept thanking Unger so profusely in acceptance speeches for the BAFTA, Golden Globes, Spirit, and other awards.) But don’t expect Marvel to confirm any of this: they won’t until all the i’s are dotted and t’s crossed on the contracts. I can also tell you that Sony was considering hiring Mickey to play the villain in Spider-Man 4.

Update: Variety has added that Rourke will play Whiplash perhaps with some elements of Crimson Dynamo. Rourke has also met with Justin Theroux and Jon Favreau and has had some involvement in his character’s development.

Next up – a Black Widow casting announcement?

Jon Favreau has released the first image from the Iron Man 2 set, showing himself and cinematographer Matthew Libatique standing amongst the building work that is Tony Stark’s house. Despite the early stages of the set construction, the style of Stark’s house can already be spotted in the circular ceiling panels and stylish steps.

Via Coming Soon

This is more like it! Some positive casting news from the world of Iron Man 2. According to the Hollywood Reporter Samuel L. Jackson has signed up as Nick Fury for a whopping NINE movies! Jackson had previously hinted that negotiations between Marvel and himself were not going smoothly, even suggesting “Maybe I won’t be Nick Fury”.

Jackson will appear in “Iron Man 2,” “Thor,” “Captain America,” “The Avengers”, assorted sequels and a possible S.H.I.E.L.D movie.