See Robert Downey Jr’s first audition tape for ‘Iron Man’
In 2008, Robert Downey Jr was ready for a project he could really sink his teeth into, something explosive and character-driven. Cue Iron Man, which had already changed hands multiple times since 1990, when Universal first bought the film rights to the Marvel comic.
Over the next decade, several high-profile actors expressed interest in the role, with Nicolas Cage tossing his hat into the ring in 1997 and Tom Cruise doing the same in 1998. After several rewrites and an ill-fated attempt to hire Quentin Tarantino as director, Marvel Studios began the project from scratch, announcing that the film would be the studio’s first independent feature.
In 2006, Jon Favreau was hired to direct the project. But Iron Man still needed a leading man with the charisma to establish Marvel Studios as a viable independent production company. Favreau believed that the film wouldn’t require an expensive a-lister, so he opted to cast a relative newcomer in the title role, hoping that the character of Iron Man would be enough to bring in the punters.
Favreau originally approached Sam Rockwell for the role, who expressed interest. However, the director quickly changed his mind after watching this screen test by Robert Downey Jr, in which the actor demonstrates that he was indeed born for the role.
Discussing the casting process in behind-the-scenes bonus material, casting director Sarah Halley Finn recalls: “Jon was in love with the idea of Downey playing the part, and we all felt so sure about him on a creative level. Because he wasn’t a slam-dunk approval, I suggested we do screentests. I remember walking in with Robert Downey Jr the day of the tests. He was laughing and in great spirits and completely at ease, and he got in front of the camera and started saying the lines.”
Downey Jr surprised even himself. “I don’t want to call it an out-of-body experience, but it was one of those rushes that I’m sure, like, somebody would feel if they were about to play a big sporting arena,” the actor later recalled. “It was just like, ‘am I gonna pass out, or am I gonna nail this?” Of course, he nailed it. By the end of the screen test, Favreau, Finn, and her fellow casting directors knew that nobody else would be able to play the part as well as Downey.
“It was magic,” Finn continued. “It was like, ‘we have it – this is our man.'”
