Robert Downey Jr. is Marvel’s Iron Man and he’s one of the most non-controversial Hollywood actors around. The star is the poster boy for turning one’s life around and hasn’t been canceled online till now. However, once upon a time, he did come under fire for doing blackface in 2008’s satirical comedy, Tropic Thunder, which grossed $195 million at the box office.
Also, Robert Downey Jr. was even nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category at the 81st Academy Awards for his role of Kirk Lazarus in the movie. The film was made to poke fun at the method acting madness, obsession with war films, and more, in Hollywood. However, this didn’t mean that Ben Stiller and Downey Jr. were exempt from controversies.
The Blackface Controversy Of Marvel Star Robert Downey Jr.
In Tropic Thunder, Robert Downey Jr. played Kirk Lazarus. The character was an Australian method actor as well as an Academy Award winner. Kirk Lazarus used pigment alteration surgery to get into the character of a black soldier and he refused to break character no matter what happens. This was obviously done to poke fun at method actors who take things too far.
But initially, audiences in 2008 were unhappy after seeing the newly minted Marvel star in such a film. However, Ben Stiller and other makers of the film took care and screened it to the NAACP and some black journalists who approved of it. Even Downey Jr. said that when the movie came out, a lot of his friends loved it.
As for those who didn’t love it, Downey Jr. doesn’t disparage them. But he does mention that his heart was in the right place. In a 2008 interview with Entertainment Weekly, he said: “I dove in with both feet. If I didn’t feel it was morally sound, or that it would be easily misinterpreted… I would’ve stayed home.” But Avengers: Endgame star wasn’t the only one under fire.
His co-star Ben Stiller wasn’t exempt from scrutiny either. In Tropic Thunder, Stiller played Tugg Speedman. His character was that of an actor. But what caused the controversy was the way a mentally challenged farm boy was shown, as played by Tugg Speedman, in the Simple Jack film. But one positive thing came out of it all. Thanks to Stiller’s controversy, Robert Downey Jr. got some reprieve.
The Public Cancellation of Ben Stiller After Tropic Thunder
On the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Robert Downey Jr. thanked Ben Stiller for taking the brunt of the controversy. He said, “The funny thing, too, was all the heat got deflected to Ben as Simple Jack. That’s what people were p***ed off about, and I go, ‘Phew! Great!'” Back then, there were several disability advocacy groups, who wanted to boycott the film because of the way Stiller’s Tugg Speedman played the mentally challenged boy.
Apart from this, the film is accused of using ableist slurs and mocking mentally disabled people. In Tropic Thunder, the aim was to show how much acclaim Hollywood actors tended to garner for playing mentally challenged characters. From Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump (1994) to Leonardo DiCaprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), there are plenty of such cases.
Ultimately, the movie was never boycotted and neither were any major changes or cuts done to the theatrical version. Also, the film stood the test of time and garnered a cult following. Many nowadays think it would have been unfortunate if any cuts got made due to pressure from advocacy groups.
Tropic Thunder is available on Amazon Prime Video.
