“I don’t break character till the DVD commentary,” says Robert Downey Jr in his Oscar-nominated role of an Aussie method actor playing a black army sergeant in the film within a film in Tropic Thunder. Well, the cast commentary on the DVD release of Ben Stiller’s outrageous spoof comedy shows that he’s been true to his word.
Downey Jr’s character is one of a bunch of egotistical actors (including Stiller and Jack Black) who are attempting to make a Vietnam war epic on location in southeast Asia. When the project’s British director (played by Steve Coogan) decides to take his pampered stars deep into the jungle to complete the film “guerrilla style”, they accidentally stumble upon a a band of local drug lords brandishing all-too-real weapons… (Released 26th January.)
Read more about Tropic Thunder’s no-holds barred send up of Hollywood pomposity and folly.
