OlderRobert Downey Jr. is a Black Man
Thu, 06 March 2008 at 8:29 pm
Robert Downey Jr. plays a black man in the new movie Tropic Thunder.
Downey, 42, plays overly committed actor Kirk Lazarus, a white man cast to play a black soldier in a satire of the performing profession.
“If it’s done right, it could be the type of role you called Peter Sellers to do 35 years ago,” Downey told Entertainment Weekly. “If you don’t do it right, we’re going to hell.”
Tropic Thunder hits theaters on August 15th.
DO YOU THINK this movie will be PRETTY FUNNY or WILDLY OFFENSIVE?
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108 Comments
I’M BLACK, and I’M TOTALLLY looking forward to this. I just started laughing at the picture, then the whole concept of it. It great and I definately look forward ti watching it.
Why’s everyone so sensitive. Get over yourselves
Hhaahaaha…. the make up is good man….
I’m actually glad its RDJ I can’t think of a better person to pull it off in all honesty =)
wow thats a great mask, I would have never guessed.
why cant some one black be offend , why could they just get a black man. but to tell the truth downey looks better black than white
ali,
Seriously? You are actually “offended”? That’s pretty much how it works all the time. White people getting “offended” on behalf of black people, when the black people couldn’t care less. If you’re trying to ingratiate yourself with the elitist crowd though, you’re probably doing the right thing.
You are an idiot.
well i think it’s neither actually…just kinda stupid…
why does a person have to be “stupid” or an “idiot” to be offended. it’s their right if they wanna be offended just like it’s another person’s right to not be offended. why does a person have to “get over themselves” if they don’t have to.
They’re “stupid” or “idiots” because they don’t understand the nature of the role.
In the movie he plays as a WHITE ACTOR who plays as a BLACK ACTOR. The film is a movie being filmed within a movie, and Downey’s character is such an over-serious actor, when he finds out his role was originally written for a black man, he makes himself up to look like one.
I’m amazed by the idiocy of people who say ponder why they can’t just get a black guy to play a black guy.
If you actually read, you would realize the story of the character is that he is a white actor playing a role designed for a black guy, so he dyes his skin as a parody of a method actor.
It is entirely within the plot to have a white guy playing this role and would not make sense otherwise.
I’m amazed by the idiocy of people who say ponder why they can’t just get a black guy to play a black guy.
If you actually read, you would realize the story of the character is that he is a white actor playing a role designed for a black guy, so he dyes his skin as a parody of a method actor.
It is entirely within the plot to have a white guy playing this role and would not make sense otherwise.
RDJ is not entirely “black” here- he’s playing the role of Kirk Lazarus, an over-committed Australian actor who decides to “transform” himself to get the role of Sgt. Osiris (who is African American). The movie is actually a satire on actors with huge egos - Kirk Lazarus is just one of them. I don’t think this movie is intended to offend anyone - it’s not historical nor biographical - it’s comedy. Besides, RDJ is an intelligent performer - he knows what he’s doing.
thats going to be a really funny movie
The movie is a comedy/satire. I’m looking forward to seeing it! I’ll determine if it’s offensive if they make black folks look bad…but I love Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. so I hope its good clean fun
it is a movie if you get offended by everything from past history you will never get ahead in life. I dont think Ben stiller is a racist I think there is plenty of great black actors out there to do any movie but this is a movie that the actor has to be white to play a black guy that is what is going to make this movie funny. I also see a real black person in this film that is always calling out robert downey for acting black. We should never forget the past but we should never live in the past white black yellow or green..
I am offended. There are too many people here arguing about an amazing actor and his ability to portray another person. This isn’t a question of whether or not Robert Downey Jr. can play a black man. He could play a black man, with all seriousness, and, with the exception of the credits, none of you would be able to tell who the actor was. Robert Downey, Jr. is playing a man with a severe case of “Heath Ledger” itis. That is what I have seen from this movie, to the point that, were I an easily offended person, I would be upset that Tropic Thunder makes fun of Heath Leger’s complete immersion into a role that screwed him up for good, all the way to his suicide. THAT is what this movie is showing, not that a white guy is stupid enough to think he can play a black man from the 70s perfectly (And yes, it’s the 70s, not the 60s, the movie so clearly shows). Pay homage to a terrific actor like Robert Downey Jr, and if you MUST be offended, be offended at the timing of the movie.
Mad props to Ledger for his intensely terrific role as the Joker. But I’m sure the serial killer clowns union had something to say about that as well.
i really don’t see how any black person could get upset.. Look at dave C. and his funny jokes of white people. . Umm.. I never had a problem with it or felt I should. I’m just sick of some black Americans! not able to understand that in the beginning of America over two thirds of the salves were white. and that Africa sold more blacks as slaves than were taken by pirates it’s really all just comes down to raciest people. Certain black Americans understand that Blacks just wanted there freedom! not that they were enslaved by whites.. Bt that they were enslaved by Blacks in Africa and whites. Just a little history for you. Where would you and I be today if your black family and my white family wasn’t enslaved by America?? It’s not common knowledge. if you ask a Japanese teenager what happened on aug. 6. 1945 to Hiroshima most wont have a clue!! Why talk about a defeat? Why would we talk about or put in the history books for are kids to read that two thirds of slaves were white? WHY?
I Like my Black & White AMERICAN BROTHERS
ahah, And seeing a black man done white then acting like an actor getting a black role would be funny. But.. wait I forgot you wouldn’t have a problem with it, and i wouldn’t either!!! you ******** LOL
ok….soo…..perhaps everyone who comments should go see the movie first and THEN make a comment….and to Kelfin above, there is one HELL of a difference between an indentured servant (which is what those “enslaved whites” you mentioned served as) and a slave lol and yes they actually are mentioned in history books, not sure which ones you were or weren’t reading. I’m a history major by the way and I’m white if your interested. Anyhow as the question originally states, “is this offensive?”, I honestly don’t think it’s up to me to decide, as a white man, what a black man should or should not find offensive, regardless of what I think I may know, neither I nor any other person who is not black can completely identify with his experience, even though some of us would like to believe that we can, that is just not the case. Telling a black person to get over slavery is like telling a Jewish person to get over the holocaust, its ridiculous. However, as I have already stated, before we judge the context in which this character is portrayed, we should all FIRST actually watch the movie, let’s not put the cart before the horse people….
Well, I had one question.. Are the history books your talking about in schools for kids or in collage.
Also, I wonder how many of the Jewish people from the holocaust are still alive and hate the Germans? Ouch, that might be a little cold of a question… But really. It’s not like all the Germans Did this and it’s not like all the whites enslaved the blacks or that Africa sold all the blacks. Also how many young black Americans were enslaved or are enslaved in order for them to use that as an excuse? Last I checked slavery ended in December, 1865. Don’t hate whites hate the KKK and that ****.. Just because a white person upsets you don’t try and use that as a reason to say he or she is a racists. everybody can hurt your feelings. Next time just use a word like, “you a**hole” or “You Little Bast**D” that wasn’t nice.. Simple way to live with things.
I’m pretty sure Christians were the worst and most badly treated people in all of history.. over 1 million Armenian Christians were killed by Muslim Turks throughout the last century and just think about whats happened through all the other centuries!
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