Leslie Bibb Revisits Her 'Iron Man' Audition & Explains Why Her Role Expanded (original) (raw)

Iron Man (2008)

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Leslie Bibb Talks Iron Man

The Big Picture

[Editor's note: This interview was recorded in May of 2022.]Though her screen time may have been short in comparison to other key supporting characters, actress Leslie Bibb’s presence within the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Vanity Fair journalist Christine Everhart is quite memorable, and it still feels as though there's more to mine from the character. Everhart was a pivotal role in the first official MCU feature, 2008’s Iron Man, and then made a brief appearance in the sequel, but that was it. (As far as big screen live-action appearances go.) During an episode of Collider’s Ladies Night, Bibb joined Perri Nemiroff to discuss her Netflix series God’s Favorite Idiot, and also took a moment to look back on her MCU audition and the massive franchise that formed in _Iron Man_’s wake.

Since director Jon Favreau first teamed up with Marvel Studios to launch Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. as the titular inventor and Avenger, the MCU has extended across five phases. From its inception, Marvel Studios has introduced audiences and fans to onscreen adaptations of numerous favorite superheroes and villains. For Bibb, however, when she was first approached by her manager to audition for a Marvel movie, she was hesitant. In her own words:

"I was doing this movie called 'Midnight Meat Train' with Bradley Cooper. My manager sent me this audition, and he said, ‘There's this thing, it's a Marvel movie,’ and I was like, ‘Marvel? What's Marvel?’ And they said, ‘Go in.’ I'd worked like all night, I was really tired, and I was like, ‘I can't do this audition.’"

In a fortunate twist of fate, Bibb recalls how odd it was that her manager was so insistent, going on to say:

"It's like he knew, I remember he was like, ‘Leslie, put on a skirt and go in. Just do it.’ I was like, ‘I'm gonna be terrible!’ And he's like, ‘Just do it!’ So I went, and I think, I don't know ... was [Jon] Favreau in the room? He might have been in the room. I don't know. I just remember I auditioned, and did it, walked out, got it. [I] had to go read the script in somebody's trailer on the set. I remember I was sneaking notes, writing stuff, because I was like, ‘I'm never gonna see the script again.’ I'm like, ‘I need to have an idea of what the heck is happening.’ I'd never signed an NDA about reading a script before. I was like, ‘That's weird.’"

Robert Downey Jr arms outstretched

Via Marvel Studios

Before the highly-anticipated Comic-Con panels and hush-hush interviews, Bibb was introduced to this up-and-coming world of intertwined comic stories as a journalist who gave Tony Stark his first taste of reality. At the time, comics were a foreign novelty to her. Bibb said:

"I do remember when I got the job I went to a comic book store, and I'm not a comic book person. I walked in, and I was like, ‘Hey, I'm looking for some Iron Man comics.’ And there were all these comic book kids - or people, because some of them are not kids, they're grown men and women - were in there, and something happened. They're like, ‘Captain America died,’ or something happened in the comic book world, or something. It was just amazing. I was like, ‘Really? You know, it's not a real person that died?’ But it was like whatever in the comic book that happened ... I don't think I understood the obsession with comic books. It hadn't occurred to me. It was not in my realm of thinking. And the movie came out, and it was huge and sort of changed everything."

Christine Everhart did become an important part in the two feature films she was in. In the first, she grilled Stark on his business practices, essentially planting the seed for the Avenger’s eventual change of heart. Later, after Tony’s return from Afghanistan, Bibb’s Everhart would serve as a catalyst when she provided the information that led to the movie’s big betrayal, and then again when she prompted him to admit he was Iron Man at a press conference. Originally, however, Bibb’s role was intended only for the press conference at the end of the first Iron Man. Bibb explains:

"I was very excited to work with Robert [Downey Jr.], and Gwyneth [Paltrow] did something to her knee, and she had to have a knee surgery. So my part sort of shifted and got, I think, got a little ... I mean, I was always going to be at the end, but they sort of jockeyed something, like it just sort of jockeyed in a different way some of my stuff because Gwyneth had something with her knee happen. And so maybe I got like an extra day of scenes, or something."

running-with-the-devil-leslie-bibb-featured

Bibb went on to make an appearance in Iron Man 2 where her role as Everhart provided fans with the insider information necessary to move the plot. She then reprised her role for the digital series WHIH Newsfront after the events of Sokovia, and then again in the Disney+ animated series What If…? In spite of her character’s investigative work throughout the MCU, Bibb says:

"I don't really feel like a part of the Marvel world because there's so many superheroes. I think there are people who are like, ‘You're the person who got him to say he was Iron Man!’ But, you know, it's not like you're Black Widow, or you're wearing a cape. I'm so grateful to be in that world. I loved it when they asked me to come do the What If...?'s. I just think it's so crazy how big that world is, and how they're constantly... those guys and girls and women who are all at that studio, how they're so smart at branding all of it and creating content that is so digestible for so many fans. That's always fascinating to me how rabid the fans are for that content. I think it's so interesting."

To find out which comics eventually piqued Bibb’s interest and hear more about her acting career including how she became a superhero herself in Jupiter's Legacy, you can check out the full hour-long interview in the Ladies Night podcast episode below: