Stiller Defends "Thunder"

Movie Stirring Controversy Over Repeated Use Of Word "Retard"

(CBS)  Funny-man Ben Stiller says he understands why his new movie, "Tropic Thunder," is stirring controversy. But, he says, "It's a comedy" and, in essence, critics should lighten up.

The film's premiere drew protesters Monday, upset over its repeated use of the word "retard" in referring to the mentally challenged.

Others are offended by actor Robert Downey Jr. playing a white Hollywood legend who decides to accept a role as an African-American and uses blackface in that portrayal.

On The Early Show Thursday, Stiller, who stars in, co-wrote and directed "Thunder," was asked by co-anchor Harry Smith about the fire the film is drawing.

Still stuck up for it, saying, "My first response is it's a comedy. We're really making fun of ourselves. The whole movie is about actors and actors who try to do things to be taken seriously. So, in the context of the movie, I'm really comfortable that's how it comes off.

"Everybody, of course, is entitled to their opinion. When you make a movie, you have to kind of go with your gut. I feel like our heart is in the right place with it."

Stiller later added, "With any comedy, anything you put out there, some people are gonna get it. Some people are gonna be into it, and other people won't. But the movie, I've screened it so many times with audiences. It's fun to see audiences laugh. Everybody doesn't take it as seriously when you get outside of it and people talk about these issues. We all want to laugh at ourselves."

Tom Cruise has a small roll in "Thunder" and got a rave review from Stiller, who told Smith, "It's amazing. He's a really funny actor, and he doesn't get a chance to do comedies" too often.

To see the entire Stiller interview, click on the arrow in the image below:



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Add a Comment See all 28 Comments

by mustangdee August 14, 2008 4:09 PM EDT

Shouldn''t we be more worried about the F word, the teen porn, and the promoting of same *** reletionship in movies today. I don''t like the word retrade either, but come on.

Reply to this comment

by dedad1 August 14, 2008 4:10 PM EDT

Just lighten up w/ all the PC garbage. Lets just set up a central database for every person on the planet so we can all be sure what we about to say work hurt anyones feelings. BTW, I have a 6 yr. old niece w/ downs syndrome. Sweet little girl. I am NOT offended by the term ***. Take your shots at me - I dont need to defend myself on this.

Reply to this comment

by dedad1 August 14, 2008 4:11 PM EDT

thye wont even let you post the R word. Ridiculous....

Reply to this comment

by gurusavant August 14, 2008 4:12 PM EDT

well the ''funny'' thing about hollywood is that the same ol group of people have been the only one''s making ''good ol fun'' of everyone else at someone else''s expense for the longest time. since the beginnings of mass entertainemnt there. i think most are getting tired of being the brunt of the stale hollywood jokes. especially the paying consumers. well at least i am. that''s fer sure. maybe start hiring a different kind of people for a change...morons.

Reply to this comment

by dvillegas43-2009 August 14, 2008 4:13 PM EDT

This guy isn''t even funny. He wouldn''t where he is today if he didn''t have famous parents who are hilarious. He''s riding on their coat tails.

Reply to this comment

by downtowner97 August 14, 2008 4:43 PM EDT

It''s all a matter of degrees. If you''re smart, you get to be rich. If you''re sorta smart, you can get a decent job. If you''re dumb, you have to struggle to make a living. If you''re very dumb, you get medicare, free housing, free food, transportation, and get to be pretty much free from worry for life. The last people in the world who care about the R word are people who fit in the category.

Reply to this comment

by gop_forever August 14, 2008 4:44 PM EDT

I bet it gets chopped up like Blazing Saddles.

Reply to this comment

by lawyertom1 August 14, 2008 4:45 PM EDT

What''s to defend? It is a sophmoric, idiotic farce. I would not pay to rent it (let alone see it), but if someone wants to make a very silly, juvenile movie and others want to pay to see it, that is their right. In the end we are all dead, so lighten up.

Reply to this comment

by haoli25 August 14, 2008 5:09 PM EDT

Did anyone ask Bush if he was offended?

Reply to this comment

by misssuzq August 14, 2008 5:42 PM EDT

There are a zillion other words that could have been used that would have been appropriate.

Moron, dumb head, gizz brain, doufus, and the list goes on.

I did cringe when I first heard about this and do think it should not have been used.

When I hear someone refer to an illness or a disease in a derogatory manner, it is wrong, as well, since some good people are made ill by careless others.

Reply to this comment

by cheddarboy82 August 14, 2008 6:44 PM EDT

MissSuZQ - stop being such a wuss. Big deal, kids get called worse names at school. Yeah, using the word dumb head is really funny, get real. It is a movie, freedom of speech, don''t like it, don''t see it. p.s. did you say they should have used dufus ? lol, you must be one of them reeeeetards. dufus, hhahaha, that is pathetic how wimpy people have gotten, to defensive. What reetard would even understand ? who cares !

Reply to this comment

by cheddarboy82 August 14, 2008 6:46 PM EDT

MissSuZQ - did you say gizz brains, *** is a gizz brain ? lol. Maybe they could have used the word stupid a** more, but not gizz brains.

Reply to this comment

by jgww2000 August 14, 2008 6:57 PM EDT

Those who are developmentally disabled do indeed understand what the "R" word means. Because people are developmentally disabled does not mean they are "dumb". There are degrees of disability from mild to severely disabled. Even in the severe category,those who have these disabilities understand more than you would imagine possible if you only take the time to observe and listen. I quote from another blog: "If you''''re very dumb, you get medicare, free housing, free food, transportation, and get to be pretty much free from worry for life. The last people in the world who care about the R word are people who fit in the category." I beg to differ. Most of the people with whom I have worked in the field of developmental disability services would love to have real freedom to go out, make their own living, choose their own food, clothing, housing, entertainment, etc., etc. They would love to be able to walk to the corner store alone if they could walk at all. They would like the kind of privacy we so called "normal" folks enjoy. One thing I know they would not want is to be made fun of in this farce of a movie, they can not defend themselves against those who don''t have a clue what their life is like. All of you who think it is OK to made fun of the defenseless and think they have such a wonderful life might want to give of your time to support the defenseless. But then maybe not as you are insensitive to the needs of the defenseless and that is the last thing they need.

Reply to this comment

by cheddarboy82 August 14, 2008 7:19 PM EDT

most tards I have met are actually the happiest people alive, you seen em, there all smiling and happy, never expected to move out and get a job...act like kids there whole lives, not a bad deal,lol

Reply to this comment

by talkingham August 14, 2008 7:26 PM EDT

This movie sounds GREAT!!!

Stop the whining. No one in their right mind would translate the content from this movie as a role model for real life. Grow up and stop whining like girly men!

Are they using the term "****" or "***". No one in this era of text messaging uses the long form anyway.

Reply to this comment

by xxunknown August 14, 2008 7:28 PM EDT

Did anyone ask Bush if he was offended?
Posted by haoli25
--------------------------
best laugh I had all day. Thanks haoli25

Reply to this comment

by talkingham August 14, 2008 7:28 PM EDT

Retardation my be the result of a disease or other biological or physiological insult but mental retardation is a condition not a disease morons!

Reply to this comment

by xxunknown August 14, 2008 7:29 PM EDT

If you''''re very dumb, you get medicare, free housing, free food, transportation, and get to be pretty much free from worry for life.
Posted by downtowner97
--------------------------------------
Pssssst....Medicare is for people with a work history. Medicaid is what I think you meant, reetard.

Reply to this comment

by pjones0495 August 14, 2008 8:05 PM EDT

Ben Stiller, let me explain to you in terms you might understand, how lighten up just doesn''t cut it. You are Jewish correct? Here''s a piece of history you might not know. Who do you think the gas chambers in WWII were used on, to test their effective on before they used them on Jews? Answer? People with Disabilities, including people with Developmental Disabilities. We were even more expendable than Jews! Freedom of speech? Wonderful concept, but what good is freedom of speech if you don''t have freedom. Right now, in this day and age, locked up in institutions (although they don''t call them that anymore, they call them ICFMR''s, or Training Centers, or other such bogus names)who don''t even have the right to come and go as they please, visit with friends, have friends visit with them, decide where to spend their own money and in many places, if you are under guardianship, you cannot vote! Can you do these things Ben Stiller? On top of All of that there is often times Physical, Verbal, Emotional, and Sexual abuse as well. Get over it? This is more than just a word! If all it was was just a word, we wouldn''t make this big of a deal of it. The problem is that this word has lead to hate crimes, and to the violation of the basic human rights that everyone else in this country can take for granted, including those who aren''t even legal citizens of this country, yet we are not always guarteed those same rights. We are the legal exception!

Reply to this comment

by lucasnico August 15, 2008 1:52 AM EDT

most tards I have met are actually the happiest people alive, you seen em, there all smiling and happy, never expected to move out and get a job...act like kids there whole lives, not a bad deal,lol

Posted by cheddarboy82

you are a complete ***....lol!

Reply to this comment

by toldyouso12 August 15, 2008 3:27 AM EDT

"***" actually means slowed growth--so it is entirely appropos to many people with diminished or limited mental capacity. The actual word is not just used to describe a mental state, it is used to describe anything with slowed growth like "fire retardants" to *** a process is to slow it down. Unlike many racial and other negative expletives, the word was not coined as an insult but a description, that it was latched on to by some as an insult does not change the meaning of the word. ON the other hand, racial slurs or slurs against sexual orientation, or gender were words either invented to have derogatory meanings or given new meanings when used as slurs.

Retardation or slowed growth, in the truest sense is exactly what the name''s definition always meant--if you change or demand people stop using THAT word, they will simply adopt the latest description as being derogatory--hence the derision when one is thought to ride the "short bus".

Reply to this comment

by whiskyrokkr August 15, 2008 4:13 AM EDT

It''s a movie. When they start telling people what kind of movies they can make than we are all in a lot of trouble. If you don''t like the story line than don''t watch it.

Reply to this comment

by beckypike August 15, 2008 12:07 PM EDT

I have been trying hard to understand the backlash to the protests of this movie.

Yes, freedom of speech (I guess even hate speech) is within our rights as Americans, but then it is also my right to protest and to say this movie offends me and my family. It is my right to try to get you to understand that you are insulting my son and others who are already discriminated against routinely. You may not say it as a direct insult, but even just hearing it as an insult hurled at someone who has done something stupid has touched my heart since my son was born.

If you''re not the one offended, it is easy to say "ha, it''s just a joke," or "it''s just a movie." I guess people are just angry because their good laugh is being ruined by their own conscience.

Reply to this comment

by beckypike August 15, 2008 12:12 PM EDT

Please keep in mind that if you happen to be in a car accident today, you could join the ranks of those with disabilities.

Reply to this comment

by liebchen21 August 15, 2008 12:29 PM EDT

No doubt someone will try to sue him for "mental anguish" or "emotional distress"...

Reply to this comment

by gurusavant August 15, 2008 12:58 PM EDT

is he a scientologist too? they keep all their major spiritualists (aka major financial contributors) secret. wonder why? the money must flow to and from some shady sources.

Reply to this comment

by avigil2 August 15, 2008 8:52 PM EDT

TROPIC THUNDER is the funniest movie I''ve seen all year long. It''s laugh-out-loud hilarious.

To pjones0495: you really need to lighten up. Get over yourself and take yourself to the movie theater. You just might come out with a big smile on your face.

Reply to this comment

by whiskyrokkr August 15, 2008 11:10 PM EDT

If someone would try to sue over using the work RET*ard than that will open up a whole can of worms. Of course the lawyers will love it.

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[mustangdee]

Shouldn''t we be more worried about the F word, the teen porn, and the promoting of same *** reletionship in movies today. I don''t like the word retrade either, but come on.

[dedad1]

Just lighten up w/ all the PC garbage. Lets just set up a central database for every person on the planet so we can all be sure what we about to say work hurt anyones feelings. BTW, I have a 6 yr. old niece w/ downs syndrome. Sweet little girl. I am NOT offended by the term ***. Take your shots at me - I dont need to defend myself on this.

[dedad1]

thye wont even let you post the R word. Ridiculous....

[gurusavant]

well the ''funny'' thing about hollywood is that the same ol group of people have been the only one''s making ''good ol fun'' of everyone else at someone else''s expense for the longest time. since the beginnings of mass entertainemnt there. i think most are getting tired of being the brunt of the stale hollywood jokes. especially the paying consumers. well at least i am. that''s fer sure. maybe start hiring a different kind of people for a change...morons.

[dvillegas43-2009]

This guy isn''t even funny. He wouldn''t where he is today if he didn''t have famous parents who are hilarious. He''s riding on their coat tails.

[downtowner97]

It''s all a matter of degrees. If you''re smart, you get to be rich. If you''re sorta smart, you can get a decent job. If you''re dumb, you have to struggle to make a living. If you''re very dumb, you get medicare, free housing, free food, transportation, and get to be pretty much free from worry for life. The last people in the world who care about the R word are people who fit in the category.

[gop_forever]

I bet it gets chopped up like Blazing Saddles.

[lawyertom1]

What''s to defend? It is a sophmoric, idiotic farce. I would not pay to rent it (let alone see it), but if someone wants to make a very silly, juvenile movie and others want to pay to see it, that is their right. In the end we are all dead, so lighten up.

[haoli25]

Did anyone ask Bush if he was offended?

[misssuzq]

There are a zillion other words that could have been used that would have been appropriate.

Moron, dumb head, gizz brain, doufus, and the list goes on.

I did cringe when I first heard about this and do think it should not have been used.

When I hear someone refer to an illness or a disease in a derogatory manner, it is wrong, as well, since some good people are made ill by careless others.

[cheddarboy82]

MissSuZQ - stop being such a wuss. Big deal, kids get called worse names at school. Yeah, using the word dumb head is really funny, get real. It is a movie, freedom of speech, don''t like it, don''t see it. p.s. did you say they should have used dufus ? lol, you must be one of them reeeeetards. dufus, hhahaha, that is pathetic how wimpy people have gotten, to defensive. What reetard would even understand ? who cares !

[cheddarboy82]

MissSuZQ - did you say gizz brains, *** is a gizz brain ? lol. Maybe they could have used the word stupid a** more, but not gizz brains.

[jgww2000]

Those who are developmentally disabled do indeed understand what the "R" word means. Because people are developmentally disabled does not mean they are "dumb". There are degrees of disability from mild to severely disabled. Even in the severe category,those who have these disabilities understand more than you would imagine possible if you only take the time to observe and listen. I quote from another blog: "If you''''re very dumb, you get medicare, free housing, free food, transportation, and get to be pretty much free from worry for life. The last people in the world who care about the R word are people who fit in the category." I beg to differ. Most of the people with whom I have worked in the field of developmental disability services would love to have real freedom to go out, make their own living, choose their own food, clothing, housing, entertainment, etc., etc. They would love to be able to walk to the corner store alone if they could walk at all. They would like the kind of privacy we so called "normal" folks enjoy. One thing I know they would not want is to be made fun of in this farce of a movie, they can not defend themselves against those who don''t have a clue what their life is like. All of you who think it is OK to made fun of the defenseless and think they have such a wonderful life might want to give of your time to support the defenseless. But then maybe not as you are insensitive to the needs of the defenseless and that is the last thing they need.

[cheddarboy82]

most tards I have met are actually the happiest people alive, you seen em, there all smiling and happy, never expected to move out and get a job...act like kids there whole lives, not a bad deal,lol

[talkingham]

This movie sounds GREAT!!!

Stop the whining. No one in their right mind would translate the content from this movie as a role model for real life. Grow up and stop whining like girly men!

Are they using the term "****" or "***". No one in this era of text messaging uses the long form anyway.

[xxunknown]

Did anyone ask Bush if he was offended?
Posted by haoli25
--------------------------
best laugh I had all day. Thanks haoli25

[talkingham]

Retardation my be the result of a disease or other biological or physiological insult but mental retardation is a condition not a disease morons!

[xxunknown]

If you''''re very dumb, you get medicare, free housing, free food, transportation, and get to be pretty much free from worry for life.
Posted by downtowner97
--------------------------------------
Pssssst....Medicare is for people with a work history. Medicaid is what I think you meant, reetard.

[pjones0495]

Ben Stiller, let me explain to you in terms you might understand, how lighten up just doesn''t cut it. You are Jewish correct? Here''s a piece of history you might not know. Who do you think the gas chambers in WWII were used on, to test their effective on before they used them on Jews? Answer? People with Disabilities, including people with Developmental Disabilities. We were even more expendable than Jews! Freedom of speech? Wonderful concept, but what good is freedom of speech if you don''t have freedom. Right now, in this day and age, locked up in institutions (although they don''t call them that anymore, they call them ICFMR''s, or Training Centers, or other such bogus names)who don''t even have the right to come and go as they please, visit with friends, have friends visit with them, decide where to spend their own money and in many places, if you are under guardianship, you cannot vote! Can you do these things Ben Stiller? On top of All of that there is often times Physical, Verbal, Emotional, and Sexual abuse as well. Get over it? This is more than just a word! If all it was was just a word, we wouldn''t make this big of a deal of it. The problem is that this word has lead to hate crimes, and to the violation of the basic human rights that everyone else in this country can take for granted, including those who aren''t even legal citizens of this country, yet we are not always guarteed those same rights. We are the legal exception!

[lucasnico]

most tards I have met are actually the happiest people alive, you seen em, there all smiling and happy, never expected to move out and get a job...act like kids there whole lives, not a bad deal,lol

Posted by cheddarboy82

you are a complete ***....lol!

[toldyouso12]

"***" actually means slowed growth--so it is entirely appropos to many people with diminished or limited mental capacity. The actual word is not just used to describe a mental state, it is used to describe anything with slowed growth like "fire retardants" to *** a process is to slow it down. Unlike many racial and other negative expletives, the word was not coined as an insult but a description, that it was latched on to by some as an insult does not change the meaning of the word. ON the other hand, racial slurs or slurs against sexual orientation, or gender were words either invented to have derogatory meanings or given new meanings when used as slurs.

Retardation or slowed growth, in the truest sense is exactly what the name''s definition always meant--if you change or demand people stop using THAT word, they will simply adopt the latest description as being derogatory--hence the derision when one is thought to ride the "short bus".

[whiskyrokkr]

It''s a movie. When they start telling people what kind of movies they can make than we are all in a lot of trouble. If you don''t like the story line than don''t watch it.

[beckypike]

I have been trying hard to understand the backlash to the protests of this movie.

Yes, freedom of speech (I guess even hate speech) is within our rights as Americans, but then it is also my right to protest and to say this movie offends me and my family. It is my right to try to get you to understand that you are insulting my son and others who are already discriminated against routinely. You may not say it as a direct insult, but even just hearing it as an insult hurled at someone who has done something stupid has touched my heart since my son was born.

If you''re not the one offended, it is easy to say "ha, it''s just a joke," or "it''s just a movie." I guess people are just angry because their good laugh is being ruined by their own conscience.

[beckypike]

Please keep in mind that if you happen to be in a car accident today, you could join the ranks of those with disabilities.

[liebchen21]

No doubt someone will try to sue him for "mental anguish" or "emotional distress"...

[gurusavant]

is he a scientologist too? they keep all their major spiritualists (aka major financial contributors) secret. wonder why? the money must flow to and from some shady sources.

[avigil2]

TROPIC THUNDER is the funniest movie I''ve seen all year long. It''s laugh-out-loud hilarious.

To pjones0495: you really need to lighten up. Get over yourself and take yourself to the movie theater. You just might come out with a big smile on your face.

[whiskyrokkr]

If someone would try to sue over using the work RET*ard than that will open up a whole can of worms. Of course the lawyers will love it.