Oscar-winner Robert Downey Jr. had a career renaissance when he starred in 2008 as Tony Stark in Iron Man. The film laid the foundations of the MCU and is still considered to be one of the most important superhero films to be made, despite releasing in the same year as Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.
However, Iron Man was not the only character Downey Jr. played in 2008. A few months after he appeared in the MCU film, he starred as Kirk Lazarus in Ben Stiller’s satire action film Tropic Thunder. He was even nominated for an Oscar for his role as a method actor who altered his skin color to play a Black man in a film. The role has attracted controversy since its release for its use of Blackface on the star.
Robert Downey Jr.’s ‘Blackface’ Role In Tropic Thunder Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. in...
However, Iron Man was not the only character Downey Jr. played in 2008. A few months after he appeared in the MCU film, he starred as Kirk Lazarus in Ben Stiller’s satire action film Tropic Thunder. He was even nominated for an Oscar for his role as a method actor who altered his skin color to play a Black man in a film. The role has attracted controversy since its release for its use of Blackface on the star.
Robert Downey Jr.’s ‘Blackface’ Role In Tropic Thunder Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. in...
- 4/21/2024
- by Nishanth A
- FandomWire
Robert Downey Jr. plays Australian actor Kirk Lazarus in his Oscar-nominated role in Tropic Thunder. Downey Jr.’s Lazarus takes the extreme step in Method acting and undergoes pigmentation alteration surgery to play an African-American man. The role was clearly a satire that mocked the extreme lengths some actors were willing to go to for a role. Downey Jr.’s co-star in the film, Danny McBride, revealed how the actor stayed in character the whole time.
Ben Stiller, Brandon T Jackson, and Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder
Downey Jr.’s portrayal in the film received criticism for donning Blackface, but his acting in the film was praised by many. He was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar that year, which he lost to Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight.
Robert Downey Jr. Went Full Method To Play The Exaggerated Version Of A Method Actor Robert Downey Jr. played...
Ben Stiller, Brandon T Jackson, and Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder
Downey Jr.’s portrayal in the film received criticism for donning Blackface, but his acting in the film was praised by many. He was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar that year, which he lost to Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight.
Robert Downey Jr. Went Full Method To Play The Exaggerated Version Of A Method Actor Robert Downey Jr. played...
- 4/5/2024
- by Hashim Asraff
- FandomWire
Robert Downey Jr.’s meta Method acting may have been a little too…Method-ly…on “Tropic Thunder.”
His co-star Danny McBride told GQ (video below) how the recent Oscar winner stayed in character throughout production of the 2008 comedy. And we do mean throughout production. Downey, who played an egomaniac Method actor who donned Blackface in the satirical film about the making of a war movie, would even “piss in character,” McBride said.
Perhaps that earned him his 2009 Best Supporting Actor Academy-Award nomination. (He didn’t win; Heath Ledger did posthumously for “The Dark Knight.”)
McBride, who played an explosives director on set, recalled being up in a watchtower and still hearing Downey in his earpiece talking to himself even on the way to the restroom.
“I guess during one of the takes they had left Downey’s mic on and so I’m sitting up there and I’m like,...
His co-star Danny McBride told GQ (video below) how the recent Oscar winner stayed in character throughout production of the 2008 comedy. And we do mean throughout production. Downey, who played an egomaniac Method actor who donned Blackface in the satirical film about the making of a war movie, would even “piss in character,” McBride said.
Perhaps that earned him his 2009 Best Supporting Actor Academy-Award nomination. (He didn’t win; Heath Ledger did posthumously for “The Dark Knight.”)
McBride, who played an explosives director on set, recalled being up in a watchtower and still hearing Downey in his earpiece talking to himself even on the way to the restroom.
“I guess during one of the takes they had left Downey’s mic on and so I’m sitting up there and I’m like,...
- 4/3/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Richard Dreyfuss doesn’t get it, but most grouchy, self-proclaimed keepers of the old Hollywood guard never do when it comes to creating an industry that gives a chance for everyone to thrive.
It was Sept. 8, 2020, and I was one week into my job as the awards editor for Variety when the Academy dropped its bombshell news that as part of its Aperture 2025 initiative, the organization was introducing new representation and inclusion requirements for submitting in the best picture category. There are four standards, and a film must meet only two in order to be eligible. So naturally, the news designed to promote and encourage diversity in the Hollywood system was met with divisive reactions. Some, such as Viggo Mortensen, said, “It’s about exclusion, which is discrimination.”
Others like comedian and actor Andy Samberg pointed out the apparent loopholes in the Academy’s gesture: “The parameters if you look at them closely…...
It was Sept. 8, 2020, and I was one week into my job as the awards editor for Variety when the Academy dropped its bombshell news that as part of its Aperture 2025 initiative, the organization was introducing new representation and inclusion requirements for submitting in the best picture category. There are four standards, and a film must meet only two in order to be eligible. So naturally, the news designed to promote and encourage diversity in the Hollywood system was met with divisive reactions. Some, such as Viggo Mortensen, said, “It’s about exclusion, which is discrimination.”
Others like comedian and actor Andy Samberg pointed out the apparent loopholes in the Academy’s gesture: “The parameters if you look at them closely…...
- 5/8/2023
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
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