Jeff Bridges Called ‘Iron Man’ a ‘$200 Million Student Film’ Because of Marvel
Jeff Bridges has several iconic film roles to his name, and Obadiah Stane is one of them. As the villain in the first Iron Man film, Bridges shaved his head, grew a beard, and set the tone for Marvel Cinematic Universe baddies to follow. The final result established comic book movies as box office winners, but Bridges said making the movie was more like a $200 million student film because of Marvel’s heavy-handed involvement.
Jeff Bridges helped craft the script for ‘Iron Man’
The MCU is a well-oiled machine at this point, with movies and phases planned out years in advance. Iron Man was a different story. As Marvel’s first attempt at big-budget filmmaking, the 2008 movie came together more piecemeal.
During a video conversation about his career with Vanity Fair (via YouTube), Bridges revealed how the movie came together. He, star Robert Downey Jr., and director Jon Favreau hashed out a script and rehearsed together because none of them liked the first screenplay. They got it to a place where they felt good about the movie’s direction, only for Marvel to say no to their changes.
Bridges treated ‘Iron Man’ like a “$200 million student film”
Bridges said Marvel’s meddling led to frustration, confusion, and delays on set, which made for some hectic filmmaking.
“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,’” he told Vanity Fair. “And so there was a lot of confusion about what our script was, what we were gonna say. We’d spend hours in one of our trailers going over lines and saying, ‘Oh you play my part, I’ll play your part,’ exploring how we were going to do it. … Meanwhile, the crew is in the sound stage tapping their feet, saying, ‘When are we going to get this thing going?’”
Yet Bridges revealed a change in his mindset decreased his stress on the set.
“It drove me absolutely crazy until I made a slight adjustment in my brain that 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.”
Jeff Bridges details his mindset while filming Iron Man
Iron Man established the MCU as a box office behemoth. The movie earned more than $585 million worldwide against a $140 million budget, per IMDb. Despite Marvel throwing a wrench into production, it became a massive success for the then-fledgling movie studio.
The door is open for Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger to return to the MCU
Bridges’ character dies at the end of Iron Man. His one-and-done in the MCU might not be so done, though.
His Iron Monger character could return, which would be more in line with the character’s arc when Bridges signed onto the project. Thanks to the multiverse and time jumping, anything can happen in the MCU.
One possible way Bridges can return, even in flashback form, is to play the secret benefactor of Sonny Burch, the black market tech and weapons dealer introduced in Ant-Man and the Wasp. Marvel has the next several years of the MCU planned out, but there’s always a chance Bridges reprises his Iron Man role.
For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, subscribe to Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s YouTube channel.
