First off, we have to give full credit to Robert Downey Jr. for doing a press tour for the fustercluck that is Dolittle because trying to sell that film is almost mission impossible.
While his comments about Dolittle are exactly what you’d expect from an actor who is obliged to speak nice about something they’re in, regardless of how bad it is, RDJ’s comments about his previous films like Tropic Thunder are far more interesting… and convoluted.
Appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast to plug Dolittle, Robert Downey Jr. and Joe Rogan soon got onto the topic of Tropic Thunder and the use of blackface.
For those who need a refresher on Tropic Thunder, RDJ played an white method actor named Kirk Lazarus who dons blackface to play a black solider in a war film. In other words:
When asked about his role on Tropic Thunder, RDJ went full word vomit in his response:
“My mother was horrified. ‘Bobby, I’m telling ya, I have a bad feeling about this.’ I was like, ‘Yeah me too, mom.’ When Ben [Stiller] called and said, ‘Hey I’m doing this thing’ – you know I think Sean Penn had passed on it or something. Possibly wisely. And I thought, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that and I’ll do that after Iron Man.’
“Then I started thinking, ‘This is a terrible idea, wait a minute.’ Then I thought, ‘Well hold on dude, get real here, where is your heart?’ My heart is…I get to be Black for a summer in my mind, so there’s something in it for me. The other thing is, I get to hold up to nature the insane self-involved hypocrisy of artists and what they think they’re allowed to do on occasion, just my opinion.“
Holy hell, RDJ, that’s a long and overly wordy answer. Not entirely sure what he means by “I get to be Black for a summer in my mind, so there’s something in it for me” though because that sounds a bit off.
In an attempt to back up his argument, RDJ muddies up the water a bit more by defending Tropic Thunder and praising what Ben Stiller was trying to do on the satirical film:
“[Ben Stiller] knew exactly what the vision for this was, he executed it, it was impossible to not have it be an offensive nightmare of a movie. And 90 per cent of my black friends were like, ‘Dude, that was great.’ I can’t disagree with [the other 10 per cent], but I know where my heart lies.
“I think that it’s never an excuse to do something that’s out of place and out of its time, but to me it blasted the cap on [the issue]. I think having a moral psychology is job one. Sometimes, you just gotta go, ‘Yeah I effed up.’ In my defense, Tropic Thunder is about how wrong [blackface] is, so I take exception.”
Okay, what does “blasted the cap on the issue” even mean?
Anyway, it was quite the slog trying to process what Robert Downey Jr. is trying to say here about blackface and Tropic Thunder, but I think the general gist is: “Blackface is wrong but I get to lampoon the ridiculousness of Hollywood actors going to extreme lengths just to play a role and it’s okay this time because the movie is basically saying ‘look how stupid Hollywood and blackface really is'”.
Talk about a long-winded journey to get to the point but RDJ makes a good point about Tropic Thunder and how it uses blackface to lampoon its usage. Beyond making fun of the process, what makes this controversial element in the film work is how it has the character of Alpa Chino, a black man, repeatedly call out RDJ’s character for using blackface.
Next time you’re talking about Dolittle or whatever movie you’re plugging and the topic of Tropic Thunder comes up again, please keep it to something manageable, Robert Downey Jr., because trying to figure out what you’re trying to say was a hell of an odyssey.
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