'Tropic Thunder' Trailer Doesn't Exactly Bury The Whole Robert Downey Jr. Blackface Subplot
You'd be forgiven if a visit to Tropic Thunder's website—where the trailer premiered today—led you to believe the movie featured billed stars STILLER and BLACK DOWNEY, as the preview ballsily features a good deal of Robert Downey Jr.'s white-Method-actor in blackface (and muttering stereotypical, The Jefferson's-theme-inspired dialogue in blackvoice). That said, there's lots to enjoy here, including the movie star archetypes that inhabit this Platoon-set-turned-real scenario—particularly Stiller's "Action Guy," whose previous roles required him to deliver catchphrase, "Who left the fridge open?" while BabyBjörning two tiny pandas.
And while Owen Wilson pulled out of the production due to, uh, the incident, his enabler Steve Coogan appears to be relishing the opportunity to play the director of a runaway production. And we haven't yet even touched about the (Jack) Black confusingly alluded to above-the-title. (We're now honestly beginning to question if Downey Jr. relinquished second billing just to get that visual joke on the promotional material.)