"It’s like you go to a ballroom, and you’re all prepare to dance the waltz, and then they just play cha-cha all the time. So, I finally got my cha-cha shoes out, and had fun playing the game that was being played."
"Iron Man" co-star Leslie Bibb described Jeff Bridges as the "all-American actor" and after spending fifteen minutes talking with him, you would get the same feeling as well. Bridges has a charm and humility about him that overpowers his history in Hollywood for over 30 years.
The star of "The Big Lebowski" and "Tron" joins Robert Downey Jr. Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow in Jon Favreau's "Iron Man," the big screen adaptation of the Marvel comic book opening in theaters this weekend. Bridges plays Obadiah Stone, a longtime family friend to the Stark family and corporation. When Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) decides to change the direction of Stark Industries regarding its use of weapons and weapon technology, Stone objects to Tony's change in stance and will stop at nothing to make sure Stark Industries continues with its plans.
Below, Jeff talked about working on the film and how technology has differed from the days of "Tron."
Q: Did you know that you would have to shave your head and grow a beard for this film?
JEFF: No. When I saw the comic book, I said, "I get to shave my head" because the guy is bald and I talked to Jon about shaving my head, and he said, "You don’t have to that. We don’t to have be a prisoner to the comic book, but it’s up to you." I got excited about. Then all the anxiety that I had when I was a kid getting my haircut started surfacing, and then it took me a while to get it done.
Q: The shaved head makes you equally sinister as stylish in the role...
JEFF: Thank you. I liked it too. I loved it. I can’t recommend it highly enough. I think it’s a wonderful thing to do.
Q: This is a return to fantasy films for you. What prompted you to join "Iron Man"?
JEFF: Jon Favreau was the real appeal to me. I’ve been a big fan of his since "Swingers," and the combination of Jon doing this comic book genre film seemed so intriguing to me, I went to hear his pitch; and when he told me that Robert was going to be Iron Man, that made it all the wonderfully odd. I thought, "Oh God, this could be exciting." Very different. That’s what got me to the party.
Q: Your character, Obadiah, serves as a father figure to Tony yet there is something evil about him at the same time. How was it to switch between being this nice guy and the villain at the same time?
JEFF: I think there are other aspects good and evil in all of us with evil being self-serving, but then you get into higher stratosphere I suppose with that kind of thinking, you get this psychopathic deal where Obadiah considers himself a hero. He’s the guy who’s "I’ll be the bad guy." You can all say "blame me, but we both know that I put this whole thing together. What I’m doing you can say it’s terrible and while you go out and get your burger at the fast food chain and drive your hot cars, I’m holding the whole thing from the beginning." He thinks of himself in those terms.
Q: Can you talk about the improvisination that Jon encouraged the actors to do and what it was liking working in that style with Robert?
JEFF: Well, we had some great writers on the set and we had a script that was constantly changing because they were some unusual elements that had to be approved and there was a lot of uncertainty of all that - which drove me crazy at the beginning because I could be prepared as I can and then you read a script and what you said about people and what other people said about you, that’s how you define your character, and if that’s all up for grabs and nobody’s on the same page, you start to panic.
Often, we would show up for the day’s work not knowing what would we were going to say for that day. You would go into Jon’s trailer for a couple of hours with one of these little tape recorders and we would jam. We would play each other’s character and we would all have ideas and throw them around and the writers would be in the room and the producers, and it took me a while to get behind that.
For a few weeks, I was panicking and it really rubbed my fur the wrong way. That’s not how I like to work. However, that’s the way to do it. There’s certain ways you would like it and it’s weird, but that’s how it is. It’s like you go to a ballroom, and you’re all prepare to dance the waltz, and then they just play cha-cha all the time. So, I finally got my cha-cha shoes out, and had fun playing the game that was being played. When I finally got with the program, it was kind of fun, and the fact that Jon Favreau is a wonderful actor himself and knows how different actors approach the material and he tried to give us all what we needed and was calmed and allowed the way it was to turn into this movie. That’s because of Jon.
Q: How’s the technology different from the days when you made "Tron" and "Starman"?
JEFF: Basically, it’s the same thing. You use the same technique you use in special effects movies, and that’s you are using your imagination. If you are working with a kid and kids can only work a certain amount of hours a day, you often find yourself working to a little X on a table. "Come on Johnny, your mother loves you" and you’re out of your mind, and that’s basically the same trick. Now they have this motion capture thing. We didn’t do much of that. We had to show up in tights with a bunch of electroids on them. We would be in a small green room, and everything is done in post. All of the sets, costumes, and the camera angles. That’s a whole new skill to take the imagination to another level.
Q: There’s been some talk about ‘Tron 2.0’. Have you heard about it?
JEFF: Yes, I have heard about it. I have heard the same rumors. I don’t know. It would be interesting. If they had a good script, we’ll see.
Q: Have they approached you?
JEFF: No, not yet. I’ve heard the rumors.
"Iron Man" opens in theaters May 2nd.
