The Dude Abides by 'Iron Man' Role

April 30, 2008— -- Co-starring as a sleek-suited comic book villain in the upcoming "Iron Man," actor Jeff Bridges may finally have found a role powerful enough to knock the iconic image of the Hawaiian shirt-wearing Lebowski dude to the back of fans' minds.

In his new film, Bridges takes on the role of Obadiah Stane, or as he puts it, "the anti-dude," an industrialist warmonger who faces off against billionaire-turned-superhero Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr.

"He's a mean fellow but very gregarious, too. I think he thinks of himself as a hero. ... The guy who is holding everything together," Bridges told Peter Travers on ABC News Now's "Popcorn."

Obadiah's bald-headed businessman look is a far cry from the disheveled, white Russian drinker he is still best-known for portraying in "The Big Lebowski," but the new suit seems to fit the accomplished actor well.

Though he grew up as a voracious comic book reader, Bridges said it was the direction of Jon Favreau that drew him to the film. "He brought me to the party. Ever since "Swingers," I've always been a fan of Jon. So when he pitched it to me and told me Downey was in ... I said, 'That sounds appealing.'"

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"It was kind of like making a multimillion-dollar student film," Bridges told Travers.

As a four-time Oscar-nominated actor, who has appeared in more than 60 films, he said he is used to showing up with his lines memorized and believed the Paramount Pictures budget would demand it, but he quickly learned to love the team's spontaneous ways.

"It took me a while to get with the program. I like to be very prepared. ... I expected because there was all this money that they would have the script locked down," he said.

"We showed up some days and had no idea what we were going to say that day. We would meet in Jon's trailer with the cast, with the Marvel comic guys and we would jam."

Bridges described Favreau and Downey as "masters of improvisation" and said the experience reminded him of working with legendary comedic filmmaker Hal Ashby, who directed him in the 1986 film "8 Million Ways to Die."