….
The first round of auditions for [Iron Man] began on Monday morning.
Though this was not an open call, the scale was massive by modern industry standards.
Even without the casual passersby, the parking lot outside the casting offices brimmed with hopeful actors.
Some stood alone with scripts in hand, whispering lines to themselves like some kinda mantras.
Others huddled in groups, laughing too loudly to mask their nerves, while a few smart bunches tried to look unbothered, casually scrolling their phones, but their twitching legs gave them away.
…
Inside, assistants manned the desks like soldiers at a checkpoint.
Each actor was signed in, handed fresh sides, and told to wait.
The waiting room itself looked like a pressure cooker - fluorescent lights, rows of plastic chairs, whispers of monologues half-muttered into the air.
Every pair of eyes darted to the door whenever someone's name was called.
Everyone knew being casted in this could change their life forever, and if they managed to suck up to the director they could just get a ticket to an easy life.
Today's audition was for the - Pepper Potts - role.
The first Pepper walked in with a confident strut, red skirt suit hugging her frame, pearls gleaming.
After the formal introduction she was told to proceed with the audition by reciting the assigned lines.
She smiled wide, almost too wide, and launched into her lines with sitcom brightness-
"Mr. Stark, you can't cancel a board meeting just because you don't feel like it."
Her tone dripped with forced sass, like a secretary character written for television in the nineties.
Regal didn't move. He simply observed, eyes cool, hands folded.
When she finished, he gave the faintest nod.
"Thank you." the casting director said smoothly.
Regal didn't even bother writing a note.
The second actress came in wearing a black dress and heels so sharp they clicked like gunshots against the floor.
Following the same proceedings, she began–
Her whole body language changed, bent her shoulders giving the best view of her upper chest.
"Tony." Her tone reeked of seduction. "You can't live your life like this…"
Her acting seemed like she was plotting a downfall instead of keeping Stark alive.
Regal arched his brow.
She is clearly trying to seduce Tony in the scene.
Wrong, but at least she was trying something.
He jotted a line on his paper: Misread. Committed.
And next came another actress… and another.
….
By the time Grace entered, Regal had sat through six more variations - too ditzy, too flirty, too plain.
Also... not too beautiful.
Yep, Pepper isn't a beautiful woman.
She is above-average beauty at best.
She wasn't a goddess or a screen siren, nor was he meant to be.
She was competent, grounded, quietly intelligent, and entirely relatable.
That ordinariness - humanity within slight imperfection - was what made the character special.
Obviously, none of the previous actresses try to embody the subtle, lived-in realism he wanted for Pepper Potts.
And notably, none of them were truly 'average' in the way Pepper was meant to be.
Anyway, as Grace walked Regal noticed immediately.
She didn't have any makeup.
Honestly, this definitely impressed him.
Also, she carried herself with a confidence that hadn't been there two years ago when they worked together on [Following].
She must have worked hard, Regal thought.
It had been a while since they last spoke beyond passing greetings, and he could see the subtle evolution in her whole demeanor as a person and actor.
Grace had shed the hesitance of a debutant, and let go of her self doubt.
She stopped in front, her posture upright, the script folded neatly in her hand.
She didn't try to charm, nor did she try to dominate.
Again, once the formal introductions were met, Grace was asked to proceed–
"Mr. Stark." She said, her voice carrying quiet steel. "You are supposed to be on that plane in thirty minutes. If you want me to cancel again, I will. But it's the third time this week."
There was no flutter in her tone, no overt scolding.
Just the weight of someone who had dealt with Tony a hundred times before and would again tomorrow.
Hm, she put in a lot of effort. It didn't take a genius to guess even for the casting director.
The casting team had known her from the start.
She was one of only two actors personally invited by Regal, which naturally sparked whispers of favoritism.
They didn't think it was bad.
They knew this is how the industry works.
Yet in contrast to the shallow assumptions, they recognized this was not about nepotism or connections - it was about preparation, precision, and understanding the material.
Grace embodied exactly what Regal envisioned for Pepper Potts: modest, intelligent, resilient, and quietly commanding.
Even her current outfit was nailed:
She wore practical and modest clothing, nothing designed to distract, no heavy makeup, no unnecessary fillers.
She stood tall, conveying a blend of compassion and competence.
Grace on the other hand despite being portraying her confidence outside, she is quite nervous inside.
Without a doubt, she knew she had an edge in getting the role due to her connection with Regal.
The detailed character script she received alone was a testament to how much preparation Regal had put into ensuring she could succeed.
So she really is having an internal breakdown of disappointing his trust.
Alas, contrary to her thoughts, the casting team was also having an overall favourable opinion.
As she performed, the team noticed the balance she struck between restraint and expression.
Her performance was modest but never timid while conveying - intelligence, patience, and an unwavering sense of reality.
Honestly, the only thing they might need to be concerned about is that she might have overdid it with the part being 'modest.'
Whatever the case, it is a minute correction - a flaw so negligible it bordered on perfection.
Hmm, they might have actually found the one.
....
Next Day.
Once the actresses for Pepper were shortlisted, the casting team moved onto the next major characters for the following week:
James Rhodey.
Happy Hogan.
Obadiah Stane.
The Smaller Roles, even the one-scene characters weren't dismissed lightly.
Reporters, soldiers, engineers - all came through the door.
….
The Rhodey auditions revealed Hollywood's fundamental misunderstanding of military characters.
Half the actors marched in like drill sergeants, and the other half played buddy-cop sidekicks.
Marcus Webb(:OC) was different.
Former Air Force, currently working as a technical advisor on military films. He didn't audition so much as have a conversation.
"Tony's brilliant, but brilliance without discipline gets people killed. Rhodey's job isn't to enable Tony's genius, it's to keep him alive long enough to use it properly."
Webb understood something the others missed: Rhodey wasn't Tony's friend who happened to be military.
He was a military man who happened to be Tony's friend. The distinction mattered.
"You have got the traits…." Regal said. "But I need you to do something for me. Forget every military character you have seen in movies. I want the real thing."
….
Finding - Obadiah Stane - required solving a complex equation: paternal enough to justify Tony's trust, ruthless enough to betray it, charming enough that audiences wouldn't see it coming.
Vincent D'Angelo(:OC) solved it in his first scene.
"Tony, your father built this company on relationships. Trust. Legacy." His delivery was grandfatherly, warm. Then something shifted, not in his tone, but in the space between his words. "I have spent thirty years protecting that legacy. I won't let anyone destroy it. Not even you."
The threat was wrapped in such perfect paternal concern that it took a moment to register. By then, it was too late, you were already on his side.
"That's our villain." Regal said.
The smaller roles moved faster.
Regal had developed a system: if an actor tried to steal their scene, they were out.
If they supported the scene, they stayed.
A reporter who asked questions like she actually wanted answers rather than setting up exposition.
A military briefing officer who delivered information with the casual competence of someone who'd done it a thousand times.
A Stark Industries engineer who spoke about arc reactor technology like it was real science, not movie magic.
Each casting choice was a building block. Get one wrong, and the entire structure could collapse.
By the end of three weeks, Regal had his cast.
Not the biggest names, or the safest choices, but the right ones.
Grace would ground Tony's flights of genius with practical reality.
Marcus would provide military discipline without sacrificing warmth.
Vincent would embody the corruption of good intentions.
Together, they would tell the story of a man learning to be better than he was, and if the audience believed in these characters, they'd believe in the world they inhabited.
Everything else, the explosions, the flying, the heroics - would follow naturally.
"Casting is complete." Regal announced to the production team. "Now we build Iron Man."
The real work was just beginning.
.
….
[To be continued…]
★─────⇌•★•⇋─────★
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