So last week I was on the phone with a friend while I was watching TV. I saw an oft-repeated commercial for the movie “Tropic Thunder”. To be honest, at the time I didn’t know the title of the movie because I tend to tune commercials out. But I did laugh out loud when the black character said to Ben Stiller’s character, “What do you mean, ‘you people?'”
So my friend asks, “do you know who that is?” Her words had TRICK QUESTION all over it. She’s never honest or forthright with me like I am with her. So I carefully considered my answer while she chuckled. I thought it was Eddie Griffin, but I knew the answer couldn’t be an obvious one. So instead I said, “Eddie Murphy?”
After she finished laughing hysterically, she informed me that the actor was Robert Downey Jr in blackface. In no time, I was Googling the movie because I didn’t believe her. Why would a producer use a white man to play Eeddie Griffin when Eddie Griffin was available?
When I told my friend I was writing a post about it, she said, “don’t bother. You’re the only one who didn’t know that.”
Am I the only one who didn’t know that Robert Downey Jr was playing Eddie Griffin in blackface?
The movie supposedly pokes fun at “pampered Hollywood stars” by dropping them in the middle of a live war zone. Downey plays a serious Oscar-winning actor named Kirk Lazarus, who plays Sgt. Osiris in the movie-within-a-movie.
Anyway, the Osiris part calls for a black actor. So Lazarus dyes his face and body to play the part. Before you go firing off those emails and letters, remember: it’s supposed to be a comedy.
