The enormity of the assembling cast for Shane Black's 'Iron Man 3,' and the quality of performers matching that sheer quantity, seemed almost too good to be true. Sir Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce, Jessica Chastain, and Andy Lau? That's an absurdly talented roster. Well now it seems, at least in the case of one potential cast member, it was in deed too good to be true. Jessica Chastain ('The Help,' 'Take Shelter') has had to bow out of the Marvel sequel due to scheduling conflicts. She was slated to, like Andy Lau, play scientist in the film, which has been established to be using Warren Ellis' 'Extremis' storyline as the basis for the plot. The actress apologized to her fans for the departure via her Facebook page...

"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"

I'm not surprised that Chastain couldn't work 'Iron Man 3' into her schedule, as she is one of the hardest working actresses in Hollywood. 2011 was her breakout year and she starred in something like six films in that time. I also didn't imagine the Oscar nomination for Best Actress was going to do anything but increase her workload. This year alone we'll see her in 'Lawless' with Tom Hardy, an untitled Terrence Malick project, and she'll lend her voice to 'Madagascar 3'...and that's just a few of things she's working on. It's a shame we won't get to see her in something as big as 'Iron Man 3,' but what can you do? Now we just need to get solid confirmation on Andy Lau.

What do you guys think? Are you disappointed Chastain won't appear in 'Iron Man 3?' Fun question, if slightly off topic: As which Marvel character would you cast Chastain for a future project?

Source: Facebook