Should Robert Downey Jr. Have Gotten A Pass for Doing Tropic Thunder?

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Robert Downey Jr. on 'Tropic Thunder': '90 percent of my black friends' thought it 'was great'
Taryn Ryder,Yahoo Movies UK 2 hours 53 minutes ago


It's been over a decade since Tropic Thunder was released and Ben Stiller's satirical look at Hollywood still ruffles feathers. Robert Downey Jr. appears in blackface for the majority of the movie as Kirk Lazarus, a white method actor who had "pigmentation alteration" surgery so he can play a black character in a new film. Downey dissected his controversial role on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast during which he called the whole thing "an offensive nightmare," but noted how it put "a blasting cap" on the issue of blackface.
"When Ben called and said, 'Hey I’m doing this thing' and, you know, I think Sean Penn had passed on it or something. Possibly wisely. And I thought, 'Yeah, I’ll do that'... and then I started thinking, 'This is a terrible idea, wait a minute,'" Downey recalled.
"And then I thought, 'Well hold on dude, get real here, where is your heart?' And my heart is... I get to be black for a summer in my mind, so there’s something in it for me," he continued. "The other thing is, I get to hold up to nature the insane, self-involved hypocrisy of artists and what they think they’re allowed to do on occasion. Just my opinion."


The 54-year-old Iron Man star added, "And also Ben, who is a masterful artist and director... it was impossible to not have it be an offensive nightmare of a movie. And 90 percent of my black friends were like, 'Dude, that was great.'"
The other 10 percent were in the offensive nightmare category.

"I can't disagree with them, but I know where my heart was and I think that it's never an excuse to do something that is out of place and not of its time, but to me, it was just putting ... a blasting cap on — and by the way, I think White Chicks came out pretty soon after that and I was like, 'I love that,'" Downey noted. (In the 2004 comedy, Shawn and Marlon Wayans play FBI agents that go undercover as white women.)
Rogan said it's likely the last time we'll see something like that on screen.

"It's an interesting and necessary meditation on where is the pendulum?" Downey replied. "Where is the pendulum maybe cutting a little into what could be perceived as 'heart in the right place'... You know, there's a morality clause here on this planet and it's a big price to pay and I think having a moral psychology is job one. Sometimes, you just gotta go, 'Yeah, I [f*****] up.' Again, not in my defense, but Tropic Thunder was about how wrong that is."

Downey's use of blackface has garnered more outrage in recent years. When Tropic Thunder was released in 2008 it was Stiller, who both directed and starred in the movie, that upset some viewers. Disability groups protested Tropic Thunder over Simple Jack, a fictional character portrayed by Stiller who is mentally challenged, and the film's use of the "R-word."
Robert Downey Jr. as Kirk Lazarus in Tropic Thunder (Dreamworks)
"And by the way, the funny thing too was all of the heat got deflected to Ben and Simple Jack," Downey explained. "That's what people were pissed off about. And I go, 'Phew, great!' But you never know when it's going to be your time in the barrel... I've been on both sides of that coin."

Rogen asked if anybody, like his agents or managers, advised Downey not to do Tropic Thunder.
"My mother was horrified," Downey declared. "'Bobby, I’m telling ya, I have a bad feeling about this.' I was like, 'Yeah me too, mom.'“

Overall, the actor doesn't regret making the movie.
"It was a piece of work I was doing and I cared about doing this professionally and as honestly as I could," he shared.
The Academy took notice. Downey ended up receiving his second Oscar nomination for the supporting role.

'Tropic Thunder' Anniversary | A Look Back
The 2008 film was directed by Ben Stiller.
 

HeavyArmz

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I had no problem with it. The role, in context, isn’t offensive. One of the funniest episodes of tv I’ve ever seen was the episode of Always Sunny when they argue if black face is appropriate and then cut to a them making a homemade sequel of Lethal Weapon. Mac dresses up in black face in order to play Ma. He thought it was a good idea but every time the camera is on him you can tell how uncomfortable he is.
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slam

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so cac`s calling black people ni99ers in movies for the sake of the character where`s the outrage 4 tht....?

oh yeah ...cuz it`s jus acting ...:hmm:


even tho some wish they could really say it ...lol
 

Charlemagne

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"gimme dat gotdamned map!"

shit was funny as fuck.

Black folks all need to watch Bamboozled (akin to cliff notes for those that are too lazy or uninterested to research) so they can learn what actual Blackface is in historical context. Every time a white person puts on brown makeup IS NOT blackface.

 
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T_Holmes

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The whole point of the character was that doing it was a bad idea. The in-movie premise was that Kirk was taking heat for having it done, because it was a bad idea.

There's a whole point in the movie where the actor openly admits that there's something fucked up about the fact that he has refused to break character, despite knowing they are no longer in a film.

So yeah, while I can see where some people might be offended, I think the movie played the part the correct way. Although it does amuse that RDJ basically spent the entire time thinking, "This might go badly" while still doing the movie.
 

OutlawR.O.C.

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"gimme dat gotdamned map!"

shit was funny as fuck.

Black folks all need to watch Bamboozled (akin to cliff notes for those that are too lazy or uninterested to research) so they can learn what actual Blackface is in historical context. Every time a white person puts on brown makeup IS NOT blackface.



Exactly what I came to say!

I'm more bothered by brother's/sister's who have no idea what blackface is making this an issue personally.
 

Walter Panov

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context is key
the humor wasn't about blackface.
it was about method actors that get completely engrossed in their characters and take themselves too seriously (think daniel day Lewis or Christian bale)
Cool, so why was a character with brown makeup needed?
 

The Untouchable GDFOLKS

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Cool, so why was a character with brown makeup needed?
Cause he was an actor playing a black dude in a movie...The comedy of it was he was a hardcore actor that would take on challenging roles man!

If he would have been jumping around like a monkey or saying stupid ass stereotypical shit like "Jive turkey" or "yessa massa' then it would have been blackface.
 

fourthstbully

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No pass given.
I never saw the movie but I saw all of his scenes on YouTube.
Was funny at first, but quickly turned into coonery and mockery for me.
 

phanatic

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Wow, people in here giving a white guy a pass for black face because he was in Avengers :smh:
Are you purposely missing the point people are making? If you understand what they're saying but don't agree, I'm good with that, but don't go around saying we're giving people passes to do racist shit.
His character was jab at method actors that in order to take on a challenging role, they must become the character. I also see it as a jab at whitewashing in Hollywood, where they could cast a black actor as a secondary role, but didn't believe in black actors enough to star in a lead WHICH REQUIRES A BLACK ACTOR.
 

jasonblacc

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Are you purposely missing the point people are making? If you understand what they're saying but don't agree, I'm good with that, but don't go around saying we're giving people passes to do racist shit.
His character was jab at method actors that in order to take on a challenging role, they must become the character. I also see it as a jab at whitewashing in Hollywood, where they could cast a black actor as a secondary role, but didn't believe in black actors enough to star in a lead WHICH REQUIRES A BLACK ACTOR.


Did it require him to be in black face? They couldn’t choose another way to express the method actors methodology? You think they really thought it out like that or did they just want to use black face and found a clever way to avoid any controversy?
 

SVT

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Did it require him to be in black face? They couldn’t choose another way to express the method actors methodology? You think they really thought it out like that or did they just want to use black face and found a clever way to avoid any controversy?
I still haven’t seen it and I won’t

these niggas are crazy
 
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