Iron Man: My 2 Weeks on the Set of this Robert Downey Jr. Action Film

The call came in from Kids' Management in April 2007, for a few Middle Eastern-looking boys and girls to play frightened villagers in John Favreau's action movie, Iron Man. The Marvel Comic Book hero would be played by seasoned actor Robert Downey Jr. and also would star Terence Howard as Jim Rhodes. The cast, as it might seem, is a long list of Hollywood's finest and is billed as the movie to watch in 2008. It opens around the same time as the long-awaited Batman, starring Christian Bale and the late Heath Ledger.

My son, Layne, and I were thrilled to hear that filming (at least for us) would begin at the California Speedway in Fontana, a mere 30 minutes from home. Nonetheless, ten days before shooting our first scenes, we were directed to Playa Vista Stages for a wardrobe fitting. Kid's Management graciously took care of the gas for the one-hundred-mile journey and a couple of hours extra pay was gratefully accepted.

April 23, 2007, early in the morning, under a blanket of stars, we drove off to Fontana. Layne was curled up under a sleeping bag and fell asleep. My young actor has learned to take naps whenever, and wherever , he can since most of the time we are on the road for more than four hours and call time is usually 6:00 or 7:00am.

In any case, we reached our destination, California Speedway, within 40 minutes and were directed beyond the tracks to the old factories behind. The sets were pretty elaborate and after the children (about ten of them) had breakfast, and wardrobe then makeup turned them into young refugees they were led into the tunnels. Parents were halted a little before the tunnel leaving our kids in the hands of their teacher and assistant director.