tropic thunder

August 10, 2008

Stiller said. Chief among the film's vivid characters is

Kirk Lazarus, a quintessential Method actor and multiple winner who

undergoes a " controversial " skin-darkening treatment to portray an

African American sergeant. Approached for the part, Downey blanched at

performing in blackface and speaking in an exaggerated Ebonics patois.

" I first got mad, " Downey said. " He's going to call me up and

say, 'I want to do a great big movie with you, but I want you to have the

highest risk factor. And I want to maybe put you up to ridicule and have

people, like, hate you for what you should have . . . known was wrong to do.'

"

Stiller ultimately persuaded him to do it but admitted worrying that people

won't get the joke. " It's such a touchy area, " he said. " It had

to be clear: What we are satirizing is the character and his loss of identity.

So we have a black actor there " -- T. , who plays the

braggadocios rapper-actor Alpa Chino in -- " calling [Lazarus] on every

moment to be perfectly clear about our point of view. We never wanted it to be

OK. "

Similarly, a subplot involving " Simple Jack " (another film set within

" Tropic Thunder's " bizarro Hollywood universe) treads shaky comedic

ground, lampooning such genre standard bearers as " Rain Man " and Penn

in " I Am Sam. " Stiller's Tugg breaks action-hero type to play a

" mentally impaired farmhand " -- a wild-eyed, bucktoothed simpleton

who is repeatedly referred to as a " retard " in " Tropic

Thunder " -- with hopes of winning an Academy Award.

" I've never played a mentally impaired character, "

said Stiller. " But I put myself out there. I've had flops. There is stuff

I do that could easily become parody too. Again, it always comes back to what

we are satirizing: the actors and the Hollywood system. What do you do to be

taken seriously? How far do you go? "

Anticipating precisely the counterpoint Stiller presents, E.

Bauer, who blogs about disabilities issues, wrote of the film: " For

the 14.3 million Americans with cognitive disabilities and their families, such

arguments may be problematic. These people share a history of segregation and

exclusion, and report that what many call the 'R-word' reinforces negative

social attitudes just as racial, ethnic and sexually oriented slurs do. "

(Bauer also said that disability rights advocates will discuss their concerns

with DreamWorks executives this week.)

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