'Iron Man 3' Director Says Film's Villain Was Changed From Female To Male Because Of Toy Sales
Shane Black has revealed that the original script contained a female villain instead of Guy Pearce’s Killian.
Iron Man 3 director Shane Black has shed new light on the sexism in the movie industry, by describing how the villain in the 2013 Marvel film had to be changed from female to male, to help toy sales. Speaking to Uproxx, Black said that after the draft of the film’s script was finished, he received a memo saying the villain’s gender had to be changed to male, because a female toy wouldn't sell as well.
Shane Black has revealed how Iron Man 3’s villain was changed from male to female.
“All I’ll say is this, on the record: There was an early draft of Iron Man 3 where we had an inkling of a problem,” Black began. “Which is that we had a female character who was the villain in the draft.” The character is thought to be Rebecca Hall’s Maya Hansen, who ended up having a much smaller part.
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