Tropic Thunder (Ben Stiller, 2008)
Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:19 pm
Tis true.s.j. bagley wrote:i had read somewhere that he was actually playing a white actor playing a black man.
Yeah, that's what I meant.s.j. bagley wrote:i had read somewhere that he was actually playing a white actor playing a black man.
Any and all churches of the world better canonize him statAntoine Doinel wrote:Full trailer. God Bless Robert Downey Jr.
Definitely. It looks like he's gonna steal every scene he's in. Nick Nolte (what little they showed of him) looks pretty good too. Nice to see him in a mainstream film again.Antoine Doinel wrote:Full trailer. God Bless Robert Downey Jr.
Tom Cruise, in Bit Role, Nips Studio’s Top Gun
By MICHAEL CIEPLY. Published: April 3, 2008. New York Times.
At an industry screening Tuesday night of the forthcoming comedy “Tropic Thunder” from Paramount Pictures and its unit DreamWorks, Tom Cruise brought down the house with his surprise portrayal of a bald, hairy-chested, foulmouthed, dirty-dancing movie mogul of the kind who is only too happy to throw an actor to the wolves when his popularity cools.
The several hundred Hollywood agents, managers, publicists and reporters at the screening on the Paramount lot here couldn’t have missed the joke. In August 2006 Mr. Cruise — after spending many years at Paramount and appearing in some of its biggest hits, including “Top Gun” and the “Mission: Impossible” series — was sent packing by Mr. Redstone, the chairman of Viacom, the studio’s parent.
Two years later Mr. Cruise is back in a Paramount movie, playing a craggy ingrate in what is shaping up as one of the studio’s best prospects for the summer. The movie, a raunchfest directed by Ben Stiller, about a bunch of actors whose jungle war movie turns unexpectedly real, also stars Mr. Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey and Nick Nolte.
The humor may have been heightened by knowledge that Mr. Cruise and Mr. Redstone only last week kissed and made up over a very public lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Mr. Cruise, 45, has been a hunk (“Cocktail”), a heartthrob (“Far and Away”), an action hero (“Minority Report”) and a series of extraordinary ordinary guys (from “Taps” to “War of the Worlds”). He has also done some comic scenes. In 2002, for instance, there was a bit as Austin Powers, in “Austin Powers in Goldmember.”
But nothing on his résumé predicted the rapturous reaction he received Tuesday night. (Only a turn by Mr. Downey — who plays most of the movie in blackface, as a present-day white Australian trying to get inside the head of an African-American grunt during the Vietnam War — received as warm a reaction.)
Mr. Stiller, speaking before the screening, said he expected the movie to be rated R. The first few words out of Mr. Cruise’s mouth would guarantee that. As for his dance, that will be best described by the critics.
Representatives of Mr. Cruise, Mr. Stiller and Paramount declined on Wednesday to discuss the role.
Mr. Cruise’s latest appearance comes on the heels of a flop, “Lions for Lambs,” which was released by United Artists, a studio he now oversees with his longtime associate Paula Wagner. And the comedy’s August release will precede Mr. Cruise’s performance in “Valkyrie,” a fall film from United Artists, in which he plays a German officer who tries to assassinate Hitler.
Mr. Stiller, who played Mr. Cruise’s obsessive stunt double in a popular Web video (and who is expected to co-star with him in “Hardy Men”), first talked with Mr. Cruise, his friend, about taking a role more than a year ago, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid conflict with the film’s promotion. Mr. Cruise chose the studio chief’s role, and went through four days of makeup tests in order to get it right.
The director had planned to keep Mr. Cruise’s uncredited performance a surprise. The studio has not included Mr. Cruise in the movie’s trailer and has declined to release any images of his character. But a photo of a mostly bald Mr. Cruise donning a fat suit popped up on the Web late last year.
In any case, the performance is likely to draw attention, since Paramount is weighing a plan in which it would build buzz with extensive screenings of “Tropic Thunder” before its Aug. 15 release, much as 20th Century Fox did in 2006 with “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” At Tuesday’s screening Mr. Stiller told attendees that his new film was still in rough form. “If you have any suggestions, feel free to post them directly on the Internet,” he said.
404.Antoine Doinel wrote:Red band trailer.
I imagine that would be the case.margot wrote:Wait can't they show this if it's before an R rated movie?
This is so amazing. I would seriously watch this. I hope there's like an actual movie on the dvd or somethingAntoine Doinel wrote:Rain Of Madness
It's a spoof of Coppola's Heart of Darkness, which documented the tumultuous production of Apocalypse Now.moviscop wrote:And what is up with the Rain of Madness. Someone explain please.
I'm such an idiot, I look way to deep into things. Thanks for your explanation. I never actually saw the documentary but should have realized the parallels.Murdoch wrote:It's a spoof of Coppola's Heart of Darkness, which documented the tumultuous production of Apocalypse Now.
There's a statement I thought I'd never read.chaddoli wrote:Ben Stiller is an excellent filmmaker