Ben Stiller Doubts ‘Tropic Thunder’ Could Get Made Today: Robert Downey Jr. in Blackface Is ‘Incredibly Dicey’ and ‘Edgier Comedy Is Harder to Do’ Now
variety.comZack Sharf Digital News Director Ben Stiller is doubtful that his 2008 satirical comedy “Tropic Thunder” could get made today.
The film, which centers on a group of egotistical actors making a Vietnam War movie, grossed nearly $200 million worldwide and picked up an Oscar nomination for supporting actor thanks to Robert Downey Jr.
But it’s Downey’s character that would likely prevent “Tropic Thunder” from getting off the ground in 2024 Hollywood. Downey starred in “Tropic Thunder” as Kirk Lazarus, an Australian thespian who takes Method acting to an unethical extreme by donning Blackface (or undergoing “pigmentation alteration” surgery, as he puts it) to play a Black soldier in the Vietnam movie.
Stiller was lampooning the insane lengths actors go to in order to win awards, but it’s too “dicey” to do again. “Obviously, in this environment, edgier comedy is just harder to do,” Stiller told Collider. “Definitely not at the scale we made it at, too, in terms of the economics of the business.
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