It was a great disappointment when Chinese superstar Andy Lau had to drop out of a supporting role in Iron Man 3. He's a fantastic talent who could do big things if given the proper Hollywood exposure, however it's hard to argue with his desire to spend more time with his newborn child. Oddly enough, we never really heard of his part being filled even as production has been underway for quite some time. That all changes now as chinesefilms.cn reports that 66-year old Wang Xueqi has taken on the role.
Last week, photos were taken of Xueqi and one of Iron Man 3's producers having a discussion about the film, and the actor's reps have confirmed his joining the cast. When Lau was involved the role was described as a colleague of Tony Stark's, but now we know that the character is actually Chen Lu, who comic book fans will know is the name of the Radioactive Man. Usually depicted as a villain, Chen Lu is fiercely loyal to China and has often served as a henchman to The Mandarin, who we know will be played by Ben Kingsley in the film. An unconfirmed report says that Chen Lu will also factor into the post-credits sequence which will serve as a set up to Edgar Wright's Ant-Man film. We'll see about that, but I hope it's true.
Considering Xueqi's age, I'm guessing we won't be seeing him get all green and toxic anytime soon if at all. Or, if it does happen, it'll be a way for them to de-age the character and have someone else take over. Xueqi's an unknown commodity to most American audiences, but he recently gave a commanding performance in Chen Kaige's excellent historical drama, Sacrifice(review here). Iron Man 3 is directed by Shane Black and hits theaters on May 3rd 2013.
