While the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a well-oiled machine these days, in the beginning, that was far from the case. It’s no secret that Iron Man was a very loose production. Although a script had been written, most of it had been thrown out during production resulting in improve from the cast and crew. For Jeff Bridges, who starred in the film as the villain Obadiah Stane, the process was frustrating, and yet enjoyable.
In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Bridges discussed what it was like making the first Iron Man movie. “It was Marvel’s first adventure into making movies,” the actor explained. “It was so lucky to have Jon on there and [Robert] Downey, because both of them are terrific improvisers, and we spent a couple of weeks working on the script and rehearsing together, because we didn’t like the original script and we thought, ‘Oh yeah, we fixed this, fixed that.’”
For Bridges, throwing out the script was frustrating because the actors had spent time going over their lines, only to find themselves confused with what they were doing. “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 exploring how we were going to do it,” Bridges said. ““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.”’
Production might not have been smooth, but there’s no denying the legacy Iron Man leaves behind. Iron Man, which was directed by Jon Favreau, earned an astounding $585 million at the worldwide box office upon its release in 2008, including $318.6 million from the domestic box office. The film went on to not only reignite Robert Downey Jr.’s career, but also launch a billion-dollar franchise that continues to dominate at the box office twenty-something films in.
Source: Vanity Fair
