Hollywood has long been populated by egocentric actors, actresses, directors, writers, producers and other narcissists who are easy to poke fun at. This week “Tropic Thunder,” directed by Ben Stiller and starring him, Jack Black and Robert Downey, Jr., is the latest film to take a satirical look at high-profile stars. But is there any joke that goes too far when Hollywood insiders are making fun of Hollywood?
Not really, said Justin Theroux, a co-writer with Stiller on the movie. ”The good thing about Hollywood is that I don’t think you’d be able to show this to anyone and have them go, ‘God that’s so me,’ They’ll all go, ‘That’s that guy,’” Theroux, 37, told reporters in recent interviews.
“Tropic Thunder” is about a group of actors making a war movie. Shooting goes haywire and the leading man is kidnapped by drug dealers, forcing the other actors to overcome their personal hang-ups as they rescue their co-star.
Stiller, 42, told reporters the idea for the film came from seeing actors attend boot camp before appearing in war movies then hearing them talk about how it was a life-changing experience, which Stiller said confounded him.
The movie’s main characters are based on Hollywood archetypes, such as the Oscar-
winning actor (Robert Downey, Jr.), the fat comedian (Jack Black) and the hip-hop artist (Brandon T. Jackson) trying to make it as an actor. Stiller plays a movie action hero.
In the case of that last character — the hip-hop artist – the character is named Alpa Chino, which of course sounds like Al Pacino. Stiller said he told the acclaimed actor that he would have a namesake of sorts in “Tropic Thunder.” Pacino was tickled, Stiller said.
Theroux said writing the script was harder when the movie was just a concept years ago, because the average movie fan’s knowledge of Hollywood’s inner workings was not as advanced back then. With the advent of the celebrity Web site TMZ.com and other Hollywood news on the Internet, that is no longer a problem, Theroux said.
“The knowledge of what goes on behind Hollywood now has sort of caught up with our script, weirdly,” he said.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)
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i read an article that Robert Downey Jr. is taking a chance in wearing black face for his new role in Tropical Thunder because of the stereo/racial type it produces. However, blacks have played white characters in movies and tv comedy shows throughtout the years but that is social/racially acceptable, with no outcry from whites. I think it is time to stop the racial divide and accept comedy for comedy and not read anything into it. What was the past, was the past regarding blackface comedy. We have to overcome this stigma and accept it as simple acting and comedy; because if it isn’t accepted then blacks should never play white characters again and they too should be condemned as well.
- Posted by tim