The on-screen death Jeff Bridges refuses to accept: “In the script, my character lives”
These days, so many actors are tied to long-running franchise roles that it’s become a running joke how often they’re contracted to return. In the past, stars would sign on for one film at a time, negotiating a new deal if the picture was successful. Now, however, actors routinely commit to three-picture deals from the outset of a potential series—frustrating if they’re not particularly enthused about the material. But what happens when a star actively wants more and can’t get it because their character was killed off? That exact scenario happened to Jeff Bridges, and he was decidedly miffed about it.
When Bridges signed up to play the villainous Obadiah Stane in 2008’s Iron Man, he could have had little idea that the ramshackle production would lead to the most successful ongoing franchise in cinema history. After all, he has been open about how frustrated he felt while working on that movie because it never had a finished script. From day to day, large swathes of Iron Man’s story and dialogue would change on a dime, and it drove Bridges nuts. You see, even though his persona is that of a laid-back, easy-going dude, he’s all business when it comes to work.
In 2024, the Big Lebowski icon told the Happy Sad Confused podcast, “I remember being so frustrated as an actor. I like to be prepared. I like to know my lines.”
In the end, he had to make a mental adjustment to let himself cope with the madness. “It was, ‘Jeff, relax, you’re making a $200 million student film with these great guys. Have fun and relax.'”
As a function of the ever-evolving script, though, the fate of Bridges’ corporate bad guy was never fixed in stone. When he read the original script, it featured Stane falling into a “big vat” at the climax of a mechanised suit battle between him and Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark. However, when the heroes find his suit and open it up, Stane isn’t there, hinting that he has lived to fight another day.
When it came time to finally shoot the scene, though, which now had Stane falling into a massive arc reactor powering the Stark Industries building, director Jon Favreau didn’t shoot Stane’s suit being opened up. In 2017, Bridges told Uproxx, “I said, ‘Aren’t you going to open my suit up?’ They said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘You’re going to kill my guy?’ And they say, ‘Well, it’s a comic book. You could come back. Who knows?'”
Much to Bridges’ frustration, it seemed the decision to kill off Stane had been made without anybody seeing fit to inform him. When Uproxx asked if he was disappointed by that decision, he grumbled, “I know, man…In the script that I hired onto, my character lives!”
In truth, the filmmakers were correct in what they told Bridges—just because Stane died in Iron Man didn’t mean he couldn’t be brought back in a myriad of ways. However, even though the Marvel Cinematic Universe now regularly deals with multiverses and endless versions of characters, he has yet to receive that call to return.
Perhaps Bridges has watched on with envy for years as the likes of Downey, Samuel L Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Hiddleston have made over ten appearances across different movies and TV shows and thought, “I want some of that action.” However, he was keen to try to put a positive spin on his disappointment.
“Well, who knows? They might bring him back; maybe they’re right. It’s a comic book, and anything in comic book land can happen. So who knows?”
