During the filming of the blockbuster Iron Man, Jeff Bridges, known for his versatility and iconic roles, found himself unexpectedly shaving his head due to a joke gone awry.
However, Bridges’ shaven-headed look is an outcome of a joke he exchanged with his longtime stand-in Loyd Catlett about a potential look for the movie. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Catlett shared what made Bridges shave his head.
One Joke That Compelled Jeff Bridges to Shave His Head
We all have seen Jeff Bridges, the Academy Award winner’s bald look in Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr. But the story behind his shaven-headed look is hilarious.
His long-term stunt double Loyd Catlett spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the incident which led Bridges to do that. They were discussing a new look for Bridges’ role in Iron Man. Sharing what Bridge did, Cutlett told THR:
“I was up at my cabin in Idaho and Jeff sends me an email with a picture of himself with a bald head and a beard. I’d never been bald before, but right away I had my hair shaved off, took a picture and sent it to Jeff.”
Just after he sent the photo to Bridges, he got a phone call from the actor who was horrified, seeing what Cutlett had already done.
Catlett recalled:
“He calls right up and says: ‘Shit, Loyd! That was a bald cap. We were just experimenting with looks. I was just joking with you’. I guess Jeff felt bad, because he ended up shaving his head for the movie.”
Bridges delivered a memorable performance as Obadiah Stane, the antagonist in the 2008 superhero film Iron Man.
Jeff Bridges Reminisced His Time Working on the Film and Said It Drove Him ‘Absolutely Crazy’
Recalling his days on the film Iron Man, which launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe; Jeff Bridges once candidly said that this film drove him “absolutely crazy.”
As he sat down with Vanity Fair, he talked about many script rewrites and last-minute changes which ultimately drove him crazy. He said:
“It was Marvel’s first adventure into making movies. It was so lucky to have Jon on there and [Robert] Downey, because both of them are so, they’re terrific improvisers,” Bridges said.
Bridges, who played supervillain Obadiah Stane said that “Marvel kind of threw out our script that we had been working on, said, ‘No, that’s no good. It’s got to be this and that.’”
“There was a lot of confusion about what our script was, what we were gonna say, you know?” he explained.
“And we’d spend hours in one of our trailers going over lines, and saying ‘Oh you play my part or I’ll play your part,’ exploring how we were going to do it.”
And all these changes and uncertainty over the screenplay “drove me absolutely crazy until I made a slight adjustment in my brain,” said Bridges.
However, he called this process a wonderful experience and praised director Jon Favreau, saying what a great filmmaker he is.
Watch Iron Man on Disney Plus.
