Actor Jeff Bridges reveals that they only had a rough outline to work with for the first movie

“They had no script, man,” Bridges exclaims. “They had an outline. We would show up for big scenes every day and we wouldn’t know what we were going to say. We would have to go into our trailer and work on this scene and call up writers on the phone, ‘You got any ideas?’ Meanwhile the crew is tapping their foot on the stage waiting for us to come on.”

Bridges, director Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. would literally act out sequences during primitive rehearsals, Downey taking on Bridges’s role and vice versa, to find and essentially improvise their way to full scenes, the actor recounts. Bridges says that the entire production was probably saved by the improv prowess of the film’s director and star.

“You’ve got the suits from Marvel in the trailer with us saying, ‘No, you wouldn’t say that,’” Bridges remembers. “You would think with a $200 million movie you’d have the shit together, but it was just the opposite. And the reason for that is because they get ahead of themselves. They have a release date before the script, ‘Oh, we’ll have the script before that time,’ and they don’t have their shit together.

“Jon dealt with it so well,” Bridges continues. “It freaked me out. I was very anxious. I like to be prepared. I like to know my lines, man, that’s my school. Very prepared. That was very irritating, and then I just made this adjustment. It happens in movies a lot where something’s rubbing against your fur and it’s not feeling right, but it’s just the way it is. You can spend a lot of energy bitching about that or you can figure out how you’re going to do it, how you’re going to play this hand you’ve been dealt. What you can control is how you perceive things and your thinking about it. So I said, ‘Oh, what we’re doing here, we’re making a $200 million student film. We’re all just fuckin’ around! We’re playin’. Oh, great!’ That took all the pressure off. ‘Oh, just jam, man, just play.’ And it turned out great!”

Makes sense now when I think about it, a good chunk of the movie is Robert Downey Jr in a room by himself trying to upgrade his armor. Credit the improv of Downey Jr to carry that film. 
 
It makes me nervous how they are going to approach the second film because so much was added Hammer, War Machine, Whiplash, Black Widow...

Complete surprise for me, I thought they had put a lot of time to the script, because it was really good. But as he said, apparently the quality of the actors and director, pushed them through. I personally think, that Iron Man is the best superhero movie ever, thanks for this piece of information!

Thats just awesome

It would be kind of funny if the second movie suffers for actually having a script.

 
Tony Stark doesn't need a script, he wings it like a pro!

 
It makes me a lot more nervous about IM2 because it seems like MARVEL is going to insist on a lot more and trying to go cheap with bringing in Cheadle instad of paying Howard what he should be getting.

Interesting to hear.

Hah, Marvel should get their shit together.

This just seems crazy for a movie that is driven by so much special FX that they would just allow them to stand around thinking of what to say.  Rolling the camera isn't exactly cheap.  How come we haven't seen tons of outtakes?  How come no one else has said anything until now?  But maybe they're just wacky enough to do something like this.  I just think we would've heard about it before.  With all the crew on the set, some anonymous dude would've spoken up before.

Just goes to show that with the right cast and a flexible director you can get gold. I'm sure this wouldn't work with lots of movies but sometimes you gotta let the actors do what they do best.

"Downey carried the last film and he's carrying the next one "

"

 
Tony Stark doesn't need a script, he wings it like a pro!

"

" This just seems crazy for a movie that is driven by so much special FX that they would just allow them to stand around thinking of what to say.  Rolling the camera isn't exactly cheap.  How come we haven't seen tons of outtakes?  How come no one else has said anything until now?  But maybe they're just wacky enough to do something like this.  I just think we would've heard about it before.  With all the crew on the set, some anonymous dude would've spoken up before. "

How can he have had a five decade long acting career if he's only 59? Did he start acting when he was 11?

Its not like they worked without any references at all.
 
Tony Stark's origin is pretty straight forward. It was just a matter or how to re-imagine it. I'd say the only time you might have been challenged to have a screenwriter was in the Tony and Pepper scenes.
 
Also how much script does it take to re-shoot the CGI scene where Iron Man returns to the desert to finish off the weapons depot and get chased by the two jet fighters?

not to be too overly critical Babs, but Iron Man was one of his WEAKER performances. He's made at least 70 awesome films.

Interesting

I can´t wait for the movie to hit the theaters.

awesome xD

Not The Greatest! But One Of The Greatest!

"How can he have had a five decade long acting career if he's only 59? Did he start acting when he was 11? "

That's really interesting, but does a comic book movie really need a script? Not really, there is so much reference material for how the characters interact that the actors could just wing it for the majority. But like I've been saying all along, if you have great actors the script doesn't matter, especially when you get actors who are some of the best in their craft

That's incredible. Although, I'm still afraid of Jeff Bridges. 

Wow!  
What was it Jon Lovitz said? "Acting"? "Genius!"

That's kind of amazing. I mean, Bridges sounds a bit more bitter than the skew of the article lets on, but the end product was exactly what the movie needed. Here's hoping that somehow they don't have to go through with all of that next time around, but that it still has the same shine.

I don't understand how people liked Iron Man but hated Superman Returns.  Seriously.  Both were boring as sin.  I am willing to check out Iron Man 2, but it's just because I see War Machine in the movie poster...and Don Cheadle as War Machine just seems BANANAS! 
 
Also, Babs...have you ever seen The Fisher King?  Bridges has DEFINITELY done better movies than Iron Man...but he DID play a good Obadiah Stone.

Interesting info to read about

Wow that's amazing
 
Have you seen the movie Stepbrothers? Literally 80% of it is improv if not more. That's just intense, probably more improv in that movie than any other movie I've ever seen.