Robert Downey Jr. is a Black Man

holy crap he looks like he is black. that movie looks like its going to be hilarious.

so people are offended because they’re wondering why a white actor was hired play a black man? read the plot synopsis of the movie and you’ll understand why…it’s to lampoon actors who take themselves too seriously. it’s supposed to be a joke. the point is that it’s a black guy playing a white guy. it’s not like the studio said “hmmm, well, everyone knows black people can’t act, it’s common knowledge. plus they all suck at comedy, so i guess we should get a white guy to do it.” seriously…were you all offended when the wayans brothers played white girls? were they making a statement that white women can’t act? lighten up for pete’s sake…

This is excellent.
Just like Eddy Murphy playing white and Jewish men.

Its all about good acting.
When you are an actor you want to be able to play people other than yourself. What if we were all limited to playing the people we actually are? No one would want to act anymore. Where would the fun be for the actor or the audience?

No doubt some PC acting police will scream racism but it’s actually completely the reverse of racism. It opens all the white parts up to black actors too. No doubt some idiots at some union will persist in trying to force everyone to do what they think is right and allocate all the acting jobs strictly according to race and age and anything else else they can try to control.

Congrats to downey for showing the RIGHT way to equal opportunity!
EVERYONE can play ANYONE.
.

Not bad o_O He kinda fooled me

If you fail to get the sarcasm and parody, you’re a goddamned idiot.

I think Downey’s got Huevos Rancheros!

I Highly APPLAUD this… People who are fairly STOOPID will be offended by it.

THIS IS NOT “BIRTH OF A NATION” - Idiots!

In DW Griffiths Piece of Crap “Birth of a KKKNation:” http://imdb.com/title/tt0004972 - We had Griffith SPREADING HATE via the brand new Medium of Film and then claiming “Oh, Duhh, I did not know I made an Offensive Moovie”

Seriously, Griffith claimed that he thought the KKK was the “Natural Order” of the US, and so we have this ridiculous film that tried to show the KKK as the saviors of the Fuggi-Nation!. Well, ignorance, if real, will barely excuse someone farting in an elevator, if at all that: So for this 1915 Hate-mongering, we do NOT excuse DW Griffith.

This is not 1915, a year where Racism was still the order of the day- I am white, I am offended by MOST black face stuff.. But I did like a few things that were actually funny… Like a couple of Harold Lloyd quips, and maybe Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland.. But they were in fact doing Musical Comedy, and what they did was funny and not degrading. But on the other hand, I hated SHOWBOAT, all versions of that lame play… The actors are supposed to be Mulatto? Not only did Irene Dunne NOT look even close to negroid, she SANG too much like a White Opera Singer! I sat and watched a later version with my friend and we BOTH cringed at the horrible acting and story! Shudder!

But Birthdeath of a Nation is something else again! Birth of a Nation had a scene where a White guy in Black face, who is supposed to be a black man, approaches a white girl, who THROWS herself off a cliff in order to avoid being raped by the White Face Black Man. THAT scene, as well as being disgusting, was HIGHLY Offensive, to me: MOSTLY cos of its NON realism, but also cos the notion it gave white women that Black Men were some kind of non human monsters that would shrivel their womenhood if they were to be touched.

Now, this is 2008 and we are enlightened, are we not brother? I simply do not THINK of race at all- I think only of the differences in ability and character, and I treat all men and women I meet with the same courtesy.. I think Courtesy is the most important thing… To not be rude, to respect a person’s space, is the most important thing.

Ergo, Downey portraying a black man is just like any of Eddie Murphy’s 3000 various roles or Martin Laurence in Bog Momma’s House. Downey is not being discourteous, he is just pretending to be a black man, just like peter sellers playing a Chinese man… Just like Jerry Lewis, and his many faces, and I loved Jerry’s huge BUCK teeth.

So, I think Downey has got guts and balls, and is willing to play straight AND crooked- I’ve seen him play serious, and I’ve seen him play comedic… And so people ought not to fly off the handle about this.

Bette Davis, on her 70th Birthday, dressed up in all black and put on an afro wig and donned black face- And she had a black wreath on her door. This was neither a racial statement or a dramatic statement, just a statement about her 70th Birthday and how she felt about it.

Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Afro’s his hair and darkened his skin in one of the videos for RHCP… He looked magnificent!

It is almost 100 years since Birth of a Nation and the last 20 years of this 100 year period has all but dropped the last vestige of racism and hate: It is time to develop humour and lightness, I mean, it ain’t heavy no more, is it? We all live together, at least in my neighborhood, and we get along fine. Once in a while, I run into brat kids that are spoiled silly… But that is not a racial issue, it is an issue that the parents ought never to have had children.

I hope some of you folks who are heavily bummed about this, see through that it is nothing to get bent about… Just try to laugh at it:

And HEY: If I go see this flick with Downey in it… AND HE IS NOT FUNNY… I’ll KICK his **** PERSONALLY!

You’re kidding, right? Donwey is playing a white man who is playing a black man. How would you cast a black man in the role of a white man playing a black man, unless you put him in white face?

Now, how many movies has Eddie Murphy made in which he plays white men, Jewish men, etc.? He wasn’t playing a black man pretending to be white; he was playing a white man and doing so in “white face.” Weren’t there any good white actors available for those roles?

The question posed at the beginning of this thread is ignorant race baiting. “Jared” should be ashamed of himself.

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 =)

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 :-)

well i think it’s neither actually…just kinda stupid…

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.