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Robert Downey Jr. on Tropic Thunder
By Fred Topel | Image property of DreamWorks
Some of the Tropic Thunder actors have complained about the shooting conditions. Though they were in Hawaii, it was still the jungle of Hawaii. Robert Downey Jr. had bigger issues to face. He was playing a black man.
Robert Downey Jr. Gets Into Character
"My conditions were special effects makeup," said Downey. "Meaning they'd do this great job and I'd say, 'Oh my God, we did it again, I'm a beautiful black man. It'll be a really fun day.' I start doing the voice and then I'd have a little breakfast and people will walk by the trailer and I'd just say exactly [what I thought], like it was an excuse to be as honest as I wanted because Robert Downey Jr was a character, but really I was just kind of reading everyone's beads and I was talking shi* to Ben as the character, saying what everyone else was thinking, just crazy stuff."
Lincoln Osiris is the character played by Kirk Lazarus, Aussie method actor, portrayed by Downey. He was two levels in when he started acting up. "I promised myself I wouldn't do the Lincoln Osiris voice [anymore] even though I desperately want to. That's not appropriate because that time's come and gone. So I would say, 'Welcome to Ben Stiller's comedy death camp.' I would proclaim to everyone, 'Isn't it good to be on his comedy gulag?'"
 Tropic Thunder
Downey was sensitive to the racial issues at work in the story. He had costar Brandon T. Jackson to keep him in check. "I was thinking, all right, they say they're going to break and make camp and I say, 'So, what sort of really wrong stereotype [can I do]?' I did it like I'd done everything else, like naturalistically and I was like, 'That’s not right' and then Ben, it was the last day of shooting, and Brandon's like, 'Man, come on. Just make it really two dimensional. Just really embarrass yourself." And I was like, 'Like I could embarrass myself any more than I had already.' And I just started going really broad with it and it felt really like ill and toxic. Then he came down and came in at the end of the scene and basically told me that he understood why I was such a loser."
Lazarus has trouble getting out of character, but Downey just let it go. "I had to let go. I didn't de-black, just we stopped shooting. Then [my wife] Susan said, 'You know, we're done now and I know you've been calling me at night and talking to me as this and it was really sexy, but now if you were still doing it…' I was like, 'I know, it'd be weird so I gotta stop.' So I had to stop."
Tropic Thunder is out in theaters now.
For stills, trailers, posters and more movie info, go to the Tropic Thunder Movie Page.
Fred Topel
Sources: Image property of DreamWorks
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