Read More Here: "By now you probably know that 'Tropic Thunder' stars some of Hollywood's biggest stars — from Jack Black to Ben Stiller, from Tom Cruise to Tobey Maguire — all willing to send up their own images for a laugh. You may also have heard that none of them is being talked about with as much acclaim as Robert Downey Jr., who plays Kirk Lazarus, a multiple-Oscar winner so committed to his craft that he literally transforms into a black man to portray a Vietnam solder in the film within the film. His performance is different, you hear, satirical and all in good fun. But you're worried, of course, because Downey isn't the first white man to play an African-American in recent cinema, and those portrayals don't always turn out so well.
But did you know that he's not even the first person in his own family to take on such a role? In crafting Lazarus, Downey says he owes a lot to his father, who directed a blaxploitation film nearly 40 years ago called 'Putney Swope,' about a black ad executive who ends up running the entire agency. Because Arnold Johnson, the actor portraying Swope, had trouble remembering his lines, Robert Downey Sr. dubbed his own voice over Johnson's during post-production."
Thursday, 14 August 2008
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