The end of the 2000s, a decade filled with a lot of historically iconic events, was coming to a close with the swine flu pandemic sending everyone into panic mode, much like the Covid-19 pandemic that started at the beginning of 2020. But the 2000s was also the very decade when Iron Man was released, triggering the start of the monumental franchise- the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The younger generation of fans may not have been of age to watch the very first addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in theaters, but honestly, no one would’ve expected it to grow into a franchise of such a scale that it cements itself as the largest movie franchise ever. But it did, although not in a smooth fashion.
Iron Man Star Jeff Bridges Thinks The Movie Was A Tad Bit Amateur-ish
Development for a movie based on Tony Stark’ character began way back in the 1990s, but the rights for producing it were eventually bought by Marvel in 2005. Jon Favreau would soon become a headline name as he was hired to direct the movie, and Robert Downey Jr. was cast in the role of the titular character along with Jeff Bridges as the main villain.
With how organized and thought out Marvel has been with its releases in the MCU over the past decade, one might think the very first installation in the franchise would’ve also been treated with the same amount of preparation and planning But Iron Man star Jeff Bridges, who plays Obadiah Stane, begs to differ.
During an interview that he gave for The Howard Stern Show, The King Kong star gave his thoughts on why he previously quoted it as an ‘amateur production’-
“$200 million dollars (the movie’s budget) or whatever the thing cost, you’d think they would have a script! But no…Here we are, coming to work, and you say ‘I’d like to be prepared, I’d like to know my lines'”
Surprisingly, there was no script!-
“We would often come to work and there would be no script for that scene today.”
“I was…you know, such stressed until I made a little adjustment in my soul or whatever saying ‘Jeff, would you please relax, you are making a $200 million dollar student film'”
A $200 million student film? That’s quite the way to put it. But that’s just like…your opinion man.
Jeff Bridges And Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man Script Was Scrapped Too
It seems like Jeff Bridges wanted to tie the room together, but this time he had no rug. Technically, you cannot have a movie without a script.
But when Bridges knew how lackluster the Iron Man script was, he decided it required some long hours of discussion with his co-star Robert Downey Jr, and the director Jon Favreau himself to make it much better.
However, their ideas were scrapped. During the very same interview on The Howard Stern Show, the 73-year-old actor tells us about why their version of the script wasn’t given any attention-
“They showed us the script, we worked for two weeks the three of us, going over the whole thing, coming up with some exciting stuff and changes. And the day before the shooting they said ‘No this is no good’ and they threw it all out!”
That’s quite disrespectful to be fair. But it seems like the original script wasn’t that lackluster as the release of the iconic superhero movie was met with acclaim for Jon Favreau’s direction and writing!
Source: YouTube
