Iron Man 3 might be the third highest-grossing Marvel Cinematic Universe installment to date but it's surely not one of Marvel Studios' most beloved movies. The complaint that most people had with the movie is its villain"¦hardly anyone liked the way it dealt with Mandarin.
In an interview earlier this year, director Shane Black talked about how the studio executives interfered during the production of Iron Man 3. He revealed that Rebecca Hall's Dr. Maya Hansen was originally planned to be its big baddie, but Marvel had a problem with it, and they forced him to reduce her role.
While speaking to Postmedia Network (via Toronto Sun) before the Canadian premiere of Christine at the Toronto International Film Festival, Hall claims that it's "100 percent true". She says that she's been "gagging to talk about it with someone" but didn't "weirdly" get the opportunity. According to the 34-year-old actress:
I signed on to do something that was a substantial role. She wasn't entirely the villain - there have been several phases of this - but I signed on to do something very different to what I ended up doing. Halfway through shooting they were basically like, “What would you think if you just got shot out of nowhere?” I was meant to be in the movie until the end.
Rebecca Hall adds that she "grappled with them" for a while before asking for "a decent death scene" and "one more scene" with the titular superhero in Iron Man 3. She says that Robert Downey, Jr. supported her in her demands.
While Marvel may have once been reluctant about focusing on female characters, Hall believes that they’re definitely trying to redeem themselves. She concludes by saying:
Look, (Marvel) is paying for their mistakes right now and I applaud them for casting Brie Larson in Captain Marvel. Hallelujah. It's about time women started being the heroes of things. They can also be the anti-heroes of things and that's what I feel I'm getting to do with Christine.
