Late last month, word emerged that Chastain, the Oscar nominee who broke big last year with The Help, The Tree of Life, and The Debt, was in talks to portray a "sexy scientist" in the second Iron Man sequel.  Less than two weeks later, Chastain herself has clarified that those negotiations didn't work out and she will not, in fact, be getting sexy as a Marvel scientist.

Chastain took to her facebook to break the bad news, announcing, "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"

Prior to last month's talks, Chastain was reportedly offered the role, but scheduling issues with The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby and Kathryn Bigelow's tentatively-titled Zero Dark Thirty prevented her from accepting.  Then, last month, a delay in production on the former and some revised timetables on the latter were said to have freed her up for Iron Man 3.  Apparently that wasn't the case, and she's just too damn busy.

Other candidates for the role apparently include Gemma Arterton, Diane Kruger, and Isla Fischer.  The character is assumed to be based on Maya Hansen, a brilliant scientist who goes back a long way with Tony Stark in "Extremis," the six-issue comic book arc by Warren Ellis and Adi Granov that is a big influence on Iron Man 3's story.  Hansen is involved in the creation of Extremis, an attempt to recreate the Super Soldier serum with nanotechnology that eventually changes Stark's relationship with his armor.

So Chastain is out, and we learned late last month that Scarlett Johansson wouldn't be appearing as Black Widow, a character introduced in Iron Man 2.  Don't worry though, because both Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce have signed up for the film, with Kinglsey playing a mysterious villain and Peace as Dr. Aldrich Killan, a character right out of "Extremis."

Then there's the returning cast, led of course by Robert Downey Jr., as well as Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle once again playing Pepper Potts and James 'Rhodey' Rhodes respectively.  They'll be working for sophomore feature director Shane Black, the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang helmer who co-wrote the screenplay with Drew Pearce.

Iron Man 3 begins principal photography in North Carolina this month for a release on May 3, 2013.