"Tropic Thunder" Pushes Race Envelope

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

(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.

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Photos: Celebrity Circuit

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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.

[scagnettie]

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.

[cdunklin]

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.

[gunnerv1]

This is going to fall flat on it ugly face!