LOS ANGELES, March 6, 2008

"Tropic Thunder" Pushes Race Envelope

Robert Downey Jr. Plays White Actor Pretending To Be Black In New Ben Stiller Film

  • Play CBS Video Video 'A Scanner Darkly'

    ShowBuzz RAW: Actor Robert Downey Jr. talks about "A Scanner Darkly," a film that depicts the life of junkies in the future. He co-stars with Keanu Reeves.

    • Robert Downey, Jr. as Kirk Lazarus, an Australian-born actor who will go to extremes to get into character, in a scene from the upcoming film _Tropic Thunder._

      Robert Downey, Jr. as Kirk Lazarus, an Australian-born actor who will go to extremes to get into character, in a scene from the upcoming film "Tropic Thunder."  (Merie Weismiller Wallace)

    • (Front to back) In the action comedy _Tropic Thunder,_ a group of actors shooting a war movie is led by Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), a pampered action superstar, Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), and Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), a gross-out comedy star.

      (Front to back) In the action comedy "Tropic Thunder," a group of actors shooting a war movie is led by Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), a pampered action superstar, Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), and Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), a gross-out comedy star.  (Merie Weismiller)

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  • Photo Essay Robert Downey Jr.

    This is one award-winning actor who has had his share of ups and downs.

(AP)  In "Tropic Thunder," one of three summer films featuring Robert Downey Jr., the actor appears on screen as a black man.

Downey Jr. plays overly committed actor Kirk Lazarus, a white man cast to play a black soldier in a satire of the performing profession. The film also stars Jack Black and Ben Stiller, who co-wrote, directed and produced it.

"If it's done right, it could be the type of role you called Peter Sellers to do 35 years ago," Downey told Entertainment Weekly magazine. "If you don't do it right, we're going to hell."

Stiller said he was "trying to push it as far as you can within reality," with the intent of satirizing over-the-top actors, not African-Americans.


Photos: Celebrity Circuit
2"I had no idea how people would respond to it," Stiller told the magazine. But at a recent screening, black viewers liked the film, he said.

Downey explained that he kept the character from becoming a caricature because he "dove in with both feet."

"If I didn't feel it was morally sound," he said, "or that it would be easily misinterpreted that I'm just C. Thomas Howell in ("Soul Man"), I would've stayed home."

Paramount is set to release "Tropic Thunder" Aug. 15.



Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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by scagnettie March 7, 2008 2:36 PM EST
Please, how is this any different then when Eddie Murphy got all painted up as a white man on SNL? It was a classic skit. Turn about is fair play.
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by cdunklin March 7, 2008 11:09 AM EST
Are there not enogh Black male actors to play Black male roles in Hollywood? Why should a white male play that role? You find it hard to cast a Black male in any role. What is Hollywood coming to these days. What does that say to a young black child, sure this is just pretend to you and me. But what about the kids that go to movies and buy the tickets.
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by gunnerv1 March 7, 2008 10:55 AM EST
This is going to fall flat on it ugly face!
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