iron-woman Lauren Taylor Austen is famous for her role as Buffy Summers on the long-running series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In 2007, Austen blew back onto the A-list by starring in Knocked Up, and followed it up with a role in record-breaking Iron Man in 2008. There seems to be no slowing down the girl who was once known as the ultimate teenage heroine. Were you excited when you saw how well Iron Man 2 did in its opening weekend? I was so excited. I mean, we hoped it would do well. The first one was just recieved so incredibly. You always hope your films do well. But this one, we really just wanted to see these great numbers, because we wanted the fans to go and see the translation of their graphic novel to screen. More than that, we wanted them to enjoy it. Based on what I’m hearing—and my own opinion—I’m pretty sure almost everyone enjoyed it! Well thank you! Had you read any of the comics before getting cast in the first movie? I can't lie. I was never a die-hard fan. My brother was a big comic book fan, so I grew up hearing all about X-Men and Iron Man and Captain America, and I read some issues here and there, but it was never a huge interest to me. When I got the part in the first movie, my brother was so excited though--he sent me all these old comics and some new Avengers he had and I actually got into them. It's just such a great story. Were fans pleased when it was announced you were playing Pepper Potts? You know, I was really worried. Fans have very firm ideals about characters in books and comics, and I think it’s hard for people to reach those expectations—especially for women. I think the real difficulty when it comes to the "heroines" in these comic book adaptations is that you don't want them to be cardboard cut-outs or damsels. They have to be real people with personalities. I lucked out in getting cast as Pepper, who just has the most amazing backbone and this great sense of wit, and I found that fans were really excited that I was playing her. How have things changed for you over the past few years? Oh wow, how haven’t they? After Buffy came to an end, I really started to take things slow. For seven years, I lived and worked non-stop, and I had the time of my life. But I needed to relax. I kept working, you know, but I was taking it easy. I made sure to take a step back from the spotlight, and took on new roles I never thought I’d step into—like Sin City. Things just kind of exploded again without my even having meant for it to. Knocked Up was probably one of the best moves in my career, and I’m so happy that I took a chance on stepping up to the plate for that one. Flexing my comedy muscles was great. And now you’re starring in several comedies! Is that because of Knocked Up? I think it helped. I’ve always loved comedy. It’s a lot harder than people think. I did Van Wilder in 2002, but I didn’t really get to be much of a comedian. I was the love interest. Just Friends was the first time I really got to jump into the role of a comedian and it just kind of stuck. It's weird, people will either walk up to me and call me Buffy or "that crazy red-haired girl from Wedding Crashers." Now a hard question! Uh oh. Of all of your projects, which was your favourite to film? Oh god. That is hard. I told you! Aside from Buffy, which will always hold the number one spot in my heart, I guess I’d have to say Halloween: H20, perhaps because it was my first movie. I had been a huge fan of the Halloween films growing up. The Buffy creator told me about the auditions and said I should go for it, and I did, and I got the part I auditioned for. It was pure craziness. I remember thinking that it was the coolest thing in the world—being chased by Michael Myers. But every single film is different and special, and there isn’t one project I’ve ever regretted doing.