Pedro Pascal Gets Support From Robert Downey Jr. After FANTASTIC FOUR Casting Backlash
When Pedro Pascal was announced as Reed Richards in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, it didn't take long for fans to freak out about his age to his facial hair. That kind of scrutiny comes with the territory in comic book movies, where passionate fans have decades of expectations built up. But even someone as seasoned as Pascal admits that this particular role has brought a new kind of pressure.
Pascal told Vanity Fair: “I’m more aware of disgruntlement around my casting than anything I’ve ever done. ‘He’s too old. He’s not right. He needs to shave.’”
Coming from someone who's headlined The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones, and The Last of Us, that says a lot. Still, even with all the noise, Pascal is trying to focus on the work and what he and the creative team are bringing to the table.
“I’m getting an inkling of excitement because it seems to reflect what our common goal was, and what we want to share, which is all of our f***ing hearts on a platter within this genre. You just never know if people are going to be disgusted by your heart or not.”
Luckily, he’s not facing that noise alone. Marvel legend Robert Downey Jr., who’s working alongside Pascal in Avengers: Doomsday, has stepped in with some words of encouragement. According to Pascal, Downey has been a grounding force.
“He’s just so immediately generous and inviting that you feel like you can be afraid, you can be hungry, you can be ambivalent.”
Downey Jr. has been lifting up other rising stars in the MCU too. Ahead of Ironheart, Dominique Thorne shared how Downey reached out to her during and after filming.
“Shortly after we finished filming in Chicago is when I got the first phone call from him, and he has been so sweet, like, through and through. So, the support it means so much. It really does.”
In the same Vanity Fair piece, he said: “Pascal’s slow trajectory to becoming a household name who is on a wildly hot streak kind of reaffirms my faith in our industry.”