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Legendary actor Jeff Bridges starred as Obadiah Stane in the first MCU filmIron Man. TheBig Lebowskistar was the first villain of the shared cinematic universe and he is often considered to be one of the better antagonists of the MCU. Stane does not directly appear in any other installment of the franchise.
Bridges mentioned the stressful experience of filmingIron Manas most of the film was improvised after Marvel disapproved of the script that director Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. had come up with. It got so bad that Favreau had to finally convince Bridges to think of it as a large-scale student film for the actor to completely give in to the process.
Also read:“He was not my first choice”: Steven Spielberg Was Refused by Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man Co-Star for $476M Movie Before Star Wars Director Saved the Day
Production Of Robert Downey Jr.’sIron Man
The foundation of the multi-billion dollar franchise that is the MCU was laid with the Robert Downey Jr. starrerIron Man. The film was the first independent production of Marvel Studios and was one of the few IPs that they still had rights to. Kevin Feige and Avi Arad produced the film and hired Jon Favreau to direct the feature.
Initially, there was reportedly a lot of pushback against the casting of Robert Downey Jr. as he had a bad reputation in the industry at that time due to his personal and legal troubles. However, Favreau stuck to his guns and did not budge on the casting. Hence, other stars such as Terrence Howard andJeff Bridgeswere brought on board to give more credibility to the project.
Also read:“Give the kid another shot”: Clint Eastwood, Who Made Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio Miserable, Broke His Sacred Rule for Only One Actor
Bridges mentioned in an interview withVanity Fair, that Favreau and Downey Jr. were great at improvising and had come up with a script that they were satisfied with, but that was ultimately rejected by Marvel. He said,
“It was so lucky to have Jon on there and [Robert] Downey, because both of them are so, they’re terrific improvisers, and we spent a couple of weeks working on the script and rehearsing together…And then came the first day of shooting, and Marvel kind of threw out our script that we had been working on, said, ‘No, that’s no good. It’s got to be this and that.’”
Bridges mentioned that the team used to spend hours in their trailer trying to come up with lines and improvising on the existing material.
Also read:“How could he not?”: Iron Man Star Jeff Bridges Straight Up Rejected the Coen Brothers’ Iconic 1998 Film That Later Became the Most Famous Role of His Career
Jeff Bridges Had A Tough Time Working On The Film Initially
Actor Jeff Bridges had over fifty years of experience in the film industry before he starred inIron Man. While the actor had his share of blockbusters when he starred in films such asTron, he also starred in multiple mid-budget productions such asThe Big Lebowski, The Fisher King,and others. The star had done it all in his illustrious career.
Hence, Bridges initially found it difficult to adjust to the rapid improvisation and on-the-go filmmaking ofIron Man. Despite being a film with a $140 million budget and a production house like Marvel behind it, the film was mostly improvised with scenes being written on the fly by Favreau.
Bridges revealed that he found it hard to adjust to the process initially until Favreau gave him a hack to fool his brain. He said,
“It drove me absolutely crazy until I made a slight adjustment in my brain and that adjustment was, ‘Jeff, just relax. You’re making a $200 million student film. Just relax and have fun.’ And that kind of did the trick because here I get to play with these two incredible artists and just jam, and that’s what we ended up doing.”
This ‘improvised’ film ended up laying the foundations for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and creating the highest-grossing franchise of all time. Jeff Bridges mentioned thatIron Manwas his favorite Marvel film.
Also read:6 Time Oscar Nominee Jeff Bridges Regrets $130M Ryan Reynolds Comic Book Movie That Sank His Franchise Aspirations: “The jockey fell off the horse & you came in last”
Nishanth A
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2417
Nishanth A is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on TV shows with over 2,000 articles published. He has been an entertainment journalist for the past two years and a scriptwriter at various corporations before that, working on educational content. With a Communications, English Literature, and Psychology triple major, Nishanth usually covers news and analyses on Star Trek, particularly Strange New Worlds and The Next Generation; Doctor Who, the DCU, and more.A Nolan fan, Nishanth spends his time exploring the filmographies of various directors with an auteurial style or can be found making short movies of his own. He has also contributed as a feature writer for Film Companion, focusing on the South division.
