Robert Downey Jr. says Tropic Thunder let him 'be Black for a summer'

Hollywood legend Robert Downey Jr. says that Tropic Thunder let him ‘be black for the summer’.

When Tropic Thunder was released in 2008, it was regarded as one of the most successful comedies of that year. Tropic Thunder generated a reported $195.7 million at the box office from its budget of $92 million. What’s more, it also garnered respectable scores on websites such as Rotten Tomatoes with 82% from critics and 71% from its audience.

However, the movie certainly wasn't without its controversy. For starters, it mocked the mentally disabled and even had Robert Downey Jr. going ‘black face’ for his character, Kirk Lazarus.

In the battle against ‘cancel culture’, Ben Stiller who played Tugg Speedman in Tropic Thunder has previously refused to apologise for the movie's controversial themes and Downey Jr. has no regrets starring in the production either.

Furthermore, as reported by our friends at UNILAD, Downey Jr. also has no regrets, the Iron Man star told Joe Rogen in 2020 during The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

While he had some reservations about taking up the role in Tropic Thunder, he asked himself “Where is your heart?” adding “And my heart is, A, I get to be black for a summer in my mind, so there's something in it for me. 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.”

It’s worth keeping in mind that the premise of Tropic Thunder is highlighting everything that is wrong with Hollywood. Blackface has very racist, and cruel origins. There was a time when it was considered the norm in Hollywood as well as stage theatre.

Unfortunately, two favourite childhood movies of mine featured a form of blackface, namely with the character Ben Jabituya played by Fisher Stevens in Short Circuit and the Chief Guard played by Pat Roach in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Downey Jr’s. character in Tropic Thunder represented that unsavoury time in Hollywood when white actors would be cast to play characters of colour. Tropic Thunder was not only a satirical comedy, but beneath its surface, it was surprisingly political and highlighted issues that to this day, can be considered taboo.