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Tropic Thunder [will this be one of the funniest movies ever?]

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by Oski2005, Mar 6, 2008.

  1. Oski2005

    Oski2005 Contributing Member

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    [​IMG]

    Guess who the guy in the middle is



    First Look: 'Tropic Thunder'
    Who's that man between Jack Black and Ben Stiller in this scene from the upcoming comedy? (Hint: he's famous...and white)

    By Adam B. Vary
    If you don't recognize that African-American actor standing between Jack Black and Ben Stiller, there's a good reason: He's white. In Tropic Thunder, an epic action comedy co-written and directed by Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. plays Kirk Lazarus, a very serious Oscar-winning actor cast in the most expensive Vietnam War film ever. Problem is, Lazarus's character, Sgt. Osiris, was originally written as black. So Lazarus decides to dye his skin and play Osiris, um, authentically. Funny? Sure. Dangerous? That's an understatement. ''If it's done right, it could be the type of role you called Peter Sellers to do 35 years ago,'' Downey says. ''If you don't do it right, we're going to hell.''

    The film marks Stiller's first directing effort since 2001's Zoolander. With Thunder (opening Aug. 15), he takes aim at the sweetest target of all: actors. Downey plays one of a team of self-indulgent stars cast in the modern equivalent of Apocalypse Now. Stiller plays an action hero who has just adopted a baby from Asia but worries that ''all the good ones are gone.'' Black portrays a comedian known for performing multiple roles in a single film — his latest is called The Fatties: Fart 2. But when the film's director (Steve Coogan) and writer (Nick Nolte) get fed up with their prima donna cast, they drop them into the jungle to fend for themselves. The actors think they're doing some sort of full-immersion filmmaking, but the danger they're in is very real.

    Stiller got the idea for Thunder more than 20 years ago while shooting a small part in Steven Spielberg's WWII drama Empire of the Sun. He's continued to develop the script as his own star has risen, which makes taking on his brethren all the richer — watch for cameos from Tom Cruise and Tobey Maguire — and all the more perilous. For starters, Hollywood satires have a rocky box office record. And then there's that little issue of a white guy playing a black guy. Stiller says that he and Downey always stayed focused on the fact that they were skewering insufferable actors, not African-Americans. ''I was trying to push it as far as you can within reality,'' Stiller explains. ''I had no idea how people would respond to it.'' He recently screened a rough cut of the film and it scored high with African-Americans. He was relieved at the reaction. ''It seems people really embrace it,'' he says.

    Paramount is hoping so: The studio plans to debut the trailer online March 17, and Downey is all over it. (In one scene, he tries to bond with a real African-American castmate by quoting the theme song from The Jeffersons.) Downey, meanwhile, is confident he never crossed the line. ''At the end of the day, it's always about how well you commit to the character,'' he says. ''I dove in with both feet. If I didn't feel it was morally sound, or that it would be easily misinterpreted that I'm just C. Thomas Howell in [Soul Man], I would've stayed home.''

    http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20182058,00.html?iid=top25-20080306-First+Look:+Stiller's+new+movie


    I couldn't stop cracking up when I read the bit about Stiller's character being an action star who adopts an asian baby and Jack Black's character basically being the white Eddie Murphy had me spitting up my drink just picturing it in my mind.
     
    #1 Oski2005, Mar 6, 2008
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2008
  2. Faos

    Faos Contributing Member

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    Someone was telling me about this last night...sounds fun.
     
  3. couple of d's

    couple of d's Member

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    i think owen wilson was supposed to be in this movie before the whole attempted suicide incident. To bad i love wilson and stiller bein in all the same movies.
     
  4. WhoMikeJames

    WhoMikeJames Contributing Member

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    Pineapple Express

    <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SLfSLyojje0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SLfSLyojje0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
     
  5. couple of d's

    couple of d's Member

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    oh yea, when i first looked at the photo without reading the actor was white, i thought it was don cheadle.
     
  6. MR. MEOWGI

    MR. MEOWGI Contributing Member

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    Me too.
     
  7. DanzelKun

    DanzelKun Contributing Member

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    Did anyone else guess David Carradine???

    [​IMG]
     
  8. Desert_Rocket

    Desert_Rocket Member

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    I thought it was the ladiesman, Tim Meadows
     
  9. Yonkers

    Yonkers Contributing Member

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    No kiddin. They did a good job with the skin tone.
     
  10. Rocketman95

    Rocketman95 Hangout Boy

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  11. Faos

    Faos Contributing Member

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    Sincerely,

    Single White Chicks

    [​IMG]
     
  12. Oski2005

    Oski2005 Contributing Member

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    He was being sarcastic. But you know, somebody or some people probably will come on the 3 cable news channels to say that this is racist (Sharpton).
     
  13. Faos

    Faos Contributing Member

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    So was I.
     
  14. boomboom

    boomboom I GOT '99 PROBLEMS
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    Tom Cruise is in this movie?
     
  15. blathersby

    blathersby Contributing Member

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    Man, I JUST read something about this in Daily Mail. Sounds great.
     
  16. professorjay

    professorjay Contributing Member

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    That's what I was thinking.

    I'm a big Stiller fan (since the Ben Stiller show days) so I'm looking forward to this one.
     
  17. bladeage

    bladeage Contributing Member

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    Jack Black has fallen off, and Ben Stiller is the most unfunny person in the history of mankind. Robert Downey Jr. is an underrated actor and one of my favorites so I will go see it because of him.
     
  18. Apollo Creed

    Apollo Creed Contributing Member

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    Stiller looks freaking jacked.
     
  19. Rocketman95

    Rocketman95 Hangout Boy

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    He was pretty jacked in Zoolander.
     
  20. Apollo Creed

    Apollo Creed Contributing Member

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    Yeah he was definitely ripped in that one...but his arms look even bigger now... :eek:

    Ben Stiller: Most fit comedic actor ever?
     

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