Jeff Bridges Joins 'Iron Man'

Small role with major consequences

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Tuesday, February 6th 2007 at 1:53 AM

Jeff Bridges is the latest big name to join the growing cast for Paramount Pictures' Iron Man for director Jon Favreau.

Robert Downey Jr. is set to play the title role and Bridges joins previously cast Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow in the picture set to begin filming in March in Los Angeles for a May 2, 2008 release.

The film is based on the long-running Marvel comic book series, Iron Man tells the story of Tony Stark, the enigmatic heir to the Stark Enterprises fortune. A driven inventor and executive who seems to have it all, Tony is haunted by his dark side. Though he commands his empire by day, by night he secretly becomes "Iron Man," the living embodiment of decades of defense spending and innovation. Strapping on billions of dollars worth of state-of-the-art armor and weaponry each night to fight crime, terrorism and corporate espionage, Tony begins to crack under the strain of his fractured lifestyle and must ultimately confront the one enemy he can never beat — himself.

Marvel's president of production Kevin Feige told THR, "We've been talking to Jeff for long time… He's excited about doing a movie like this, and we're excited to have him in this particular role. There are many facets to this character which I can't discuss, but looking at the spectrum of all of Jeff's roles, this fits in nicely with the man who played 'Starman,' 'Tucker,' 'Big Lebowski' with a little bit 'Tron' thrown in.

"This rounds out our ensemble, and I think it's one of the strongest casts ever assembled for one of our films."

While I am not particularly impressed with the casting outside of Downey and Howard, I have to agree with Feige that it certainly is a nice list considering the Hollywood clout involved, but the verdict is still out on whether or not it will work.