He nods. (The woman at the desk looks a little uncomfortable at the mention of the spell.)

"Many of our films have Pokémon costars, is that something you'd be comfortable with?"

"Oh, sure!"

"In that case, I'd like to get a sense for how you work with unfamiliar Pokémon. Are there any species you're likely to have particular issues with?"

"Um... I've never met a Ghost-type Pokémon and on my planet anything like that would be really dangerous to people, so I guess I might be nervous with those, though I overlooked somebody being undead for the sake of art once and can probably do it again!"

"Most Ghost-types aren't very dangerous, and besides, they usually don't show up so well on camera. I can make sure to avoid Ghosts in the audition."

He goes over to another part of the room and returns with a Pokéball, a script, and another person. He hands the Pokéball to Laia.

"Alright, darling, we're going to start with some freeform interaction between you and one of our Pokémon stars. This is Riley, one of our star Riolu."

Out you come, Riley!

Riley lands on one leg, does a little spin, and then looks expectantly at Laia.

She can mimic the spin and do a little bow! "Hello there, Riley! I'm Laia."

Riley bows back and says something incomprehensible. It gives her a playful, gentle shove.

She knows how to pratfall as though he pushed her much harder! "Why, Riley, if you don't want me copying you all you've got to do is wag your tail, I can't do that."

With her on the ground, Riley places one foot gently on her torso and makes a victory pose, then offers her a hand up.

Up she gets. She bows and claps. "I yield to the champion! Congratulations!"

"Marvelous, darling!" says Stu. "Next, I want to see how you do with a mock battle. You'll be partnering with Warren."

He hands her a script. It includes detailed choreography for the Pokémon, and instructions for the specific commands she should be giving, but also leaves open room for improvising banter, encouraging remarks, etc.

Is Warren her opponent or the Pokémon she's supposed to command?

Warren is her opponent, she's still commanding Riley. He sends out a Pokémon that looks like a giant ice cream cone.

"You think you can stop me?" he reads. "Well, think again!"

(The script calls for her to improvise a response, then instruct Riley to use Force Palm.)

"It's time for action, not more woolgathering! Riley, Force Palm!"

Riley gives her a mock salute and shoves its right hand forcibly at the ice cream cone.

The ice cream cone squeaks indignantly and falls unconscious.

Next Warren sends out a metal bird.

"You may have taken down one of us, but we've got more tricks up our sleeve!"

The script informs her that she is supposed to act terrified. She should wait for Warren's Pokémon to act, then instruct Riley to use Counter.

She can act terrified! ...she's going to act a little less terrified than she knows how to, because probably they don't actually want her to look like she's about to be tortured to the point of death and then Maledicted over a Pokémon battle! She takes half a step back, frowns at the battlefield, lets her hand tremble a little as it brushes some hair out of her face.

Warren makes a fist and turns his hand around rapidly. "Show that Riolu who's boss! Pluck!"

The metal bird dives at Riley and pecks at it. (An experienced observer might notice that it is being very careful not to actually knock Riley unconscious.)

"Counter!" she gasps, clasping a sympathetic fist although she doesn't actually know what Counter does.

Riley catches the edge of the metal bird's momentum and thrusts it back upon itself, knocking the bird nearly to the point of unconsciousness.

"Is that all you've got? We've got you outmatched."

(At this point the script calls for her to look smug, optionally with improvised dialogue, then tell Riley to use Quick Attack.)

"Braggadocio," she snorts. "Quick Attack."