Ben Stiller admits to making his 2008 satirical comedy tropical thunder Today will be “extremely dangerous”.
The actor-director-producer recently explained collider Why he doubts this type of film can work in the current environment where “it’s harder to make edgy comedies.”
“In terms of business economics, it’s definitely not at our scale,” he continued. “I think we were lucky even at the time to be able to make this movie, and I actually attribute that to Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks. He read it and said, ‘Okay, let’s do this.’ “If you think about it carefully, this is a very meaningful movie.
tropical thunderStarring and directed by Stiller, starring Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Jay Baruchel and Brandon T. Jackson. The film follows a group of egotistical actors who are forced to become the soldiers they play while making a big-budget war movie.
However, Zolander The actor pointed to Downey’s now-controversial role as one of the reasons the movie might not be made today. The Oscar-winner plays Kirk Lazarus, who underwent “pigmentation-altering” surgery, as his character puts it, in order to play a black soldier in the film.
“I mean, the idea of Robert playing an African-American character was very risky,” Stiller added. “Of course, even at the time, it was risky. The only reason we tried it was because I felt like the joke made it very clear who the joke was about – actors doing whatever it takes to win awards. But now, in this Under these circumstances, I don’t even know if I would risk doing that, to tell you the truth.
Despite receiving some criticism over the years, Stiller wrote on social media last year that he “won’t do anything for tropical thunder,” Adding, “This has been a controversial film since we released it. So proud of it and the work that everyone put into it.
Downey, who was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in the film, has previously defended the film. during an appearance Literally! with Rob Lowe Earlier this year, he connected to the podcast tropical thunder and norman lear’s hit sitcom Everything is in the family“, said in part, “There used to be an understanding with the audience, and I’m not saying the audience doesn’t understand anymore – I’m saying things got really confusing. The spirit with which Stiller directed, cast and filmed tropical thunder Essentially, this is a condemnation of all these incorrect tropes [that] It’s been going on for too long.
