Ben Stiller is crediting Steven Spielberg for bringing his “dicey” 2008 satirical comedy “Tropic Thunder” to the screen.
Stiller told Collider while promoting his latest film “Nutcrackers” that Spielberg was key to getting “Tropic Thunder” greenlit. The film went on to land an Oscar nomination for Robert Downey Jr. in the Best Supporting Actor category; Downey played a Method actor who dons Blackface to portray a Vietnam War soldier.
“I think even at the time we were fortunate to get it made, and I credit that, actually, to Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks. He read it and was like, ‘Alright, let’s make this thing,’” Stiller said. “It’s a very inside movie when you think about it.”
However, Stiller admitted that he might not have written and directed “Tropic Thunder” in 2024.
“Obviously, in this environment, edgier comedy is just harder to do,” Stiller said. “Definitely not at the scale we made it at, too, in terms of the economics of the business.”
He added, “The idea of Robert playing that character who’s playing an African American character, I mean, incredibly dicey. Even at the time, of course, it was dicey too. The only reason we attempted it was I felt like the joke was very clear in terms of who that joke was on — actors trying to do anything to win awards. But now, in this environment, I don’t even know if I would have ventured to do it, to tell you the truth. I’m being honest.”
Stiller previously wrote on Twitter in 2023 that he makes “no apologies” for “Tropic Thunder,” adding: “It’s always been a controversial movie since when we opened. Proud of it and the work everyone did on it.”
Downey said during Rob Lowe’s “Literally!” podcast in 2024 that the reception to edgier films like “Tropic Thunder” has become more “muddied” in modern day.
“There used to be an understanding with an audience, and I’m not saying that the audience is no longer understanding — I’m saying that things have gotten very muddied,” Downey said. “The spirit that [Ben] Stiller directed and cast and shot ‘Tropic Thunder’ in was, essentially, as a railing against all of these tropes that are not right and [that] had been perpetuated for too long.”
