Hopefuls turn out for 'Iron Man 3' call
By Gary Popp
Published in News on May 11, 2012 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/BOBBY WILLIAMS
Tanner Guthrie, Madison Guthrie and Samatha Cates fill out the entry form hoping for a chance to be extras in the upcoming "Iron Man 3" movie, which will be filmed in Wilmington this summer.
KENANSVILLE -- People of all ages, shapes and sizes showed up for a casting call in Kenansville Thursday afternoon in hopes of seeing their faces on the silver screen as an extra in the third installment of the blockbuster franchise "Iron Man," which will be filmed in North Carolina this summer.
Bobby Jones, 26, a biomedical technician from Teachey, said he watched the first "Iron Man" movie for the first time this week, but as soon as he saw the advertisement for the casting, which was held at Kenansville Memorial Auditorium, he immediately knew he would try out.
While Jones has no previous acting experience, and the casting event was designed to find movie extras only, that didn't keeping him from dreaming big.
"I would like to put on the Iron Man suit," he said. "That would be awesome. Wouldn't it?"
But Jones admitted even getting a call back is a long shot.
Other than bringing a photo and filling in their personal information on a one-page form, there was little the wannabe extras could do to prepare.
The casting representatives interviewed hundreds of hopefuls, giving each only a few seconds to turn in their forms and answer a question or two. Primarily, they were asked about their availability during shooting and the type of vehicle they own, as the movie will need footage of congested roadways.
Most of those in the steady stream of applicants that filtered into the auditorium between 3:30 and 7 p.m. were complete novices to the film industry, but some, like Natasha Staton, 22, of Wilson, were looking to build on past acting experiences.
"I have gone on several auditions, and I heard about this one, and it is a great resume builder," she said. "That is why I came out -- to get the experience."
Ms. Staton said she has worked previously in commercials, as an extra in a film and even appeared in a Tupac Shakur video, "I Wonder if Heaven Got a Ghetto"' when she was 6 years old.
UNC-Chapel Hill student and Kenansville resident Samantha Cates, 20, said she learned of the casting call from her father when he called her earlier in the day.
She said she was motivated to come out to the casting call after some of her friends worked as extras in the hit movie "The Hunger Games," which also was filmed in the state.
Ms. Cates said she hopes to be cast, but admitted she has not seen either of the first two "Iron Man" films.
Still, she said the opportunity to work on the set would be a great experience.
"I think it would be cool to actually be an extra because I want to meet all the actors and actresses," she said. "That is my only reason."
If cast, Ms. Cates said she would hope to be able to meet the film's star, Robert Downey Jr. But she confessed she would likely be at a loss for words.
"I would probably be speechless," she said, laughing.