Ben Stiller is proud of ‘Tropic Thunder’ – and makes no apologies for the film. The 2008 action-comedy continues to draw criticism for its portrayal of blackfacing. Comedy star Stiller directed the film, and lead actor Robert Downey, Jr. painted his face black to look like a black man. Blackfacing has its origins in the minstrel shows of the 18th century and is now, rightly, classified as racist.
Many Stiller fans can hardly stop laughing. On Twitter, a user urged the actor-director to stop apologizing about the film. “It was, and still is, damn funny. Even funnier now that the cancel culture is what it is. It’s a movie. You can just get over it. I laughed my heart out the first time I saw him and so did everyone else,” the person wrote.
The 57-year-old responded that he never apologized for “Tropic Thunder.” “I don’t know who said that. The film has always been controversial since we released it. I’m proud of it and the work that everyone put into it.”
I make no apologies for Tropic Thunder. Don’t know who told you that. It’s always been a controversial movie since when we opened. Proud of it and the work everyone did on it. ?✊?
— Ben Stiller (@BenStiller) February 21, 2023
The same user then referenced a 2018 tweet in which Stiller was responding to a post joking about the boycott of Tropic Thunder after snowboarder Shaun White dressed up as a movie character with a disability for Halloween. Stiller wrote at the time: “Actually, ‘Tropic Thunder’ was boycotted 10 years ago when it came out, and I apologized at the time. He was always meant to poke fun at actors who will do anything to win awards.”
The film is about a group of actors hoping for a big hit with a war film. One of them, played by Robert Downey Jr., has his skin dyed before filming to play a black soldier. During production, the men are abandoned in the jungle and get lost. After publication, several disability associations criticized the use of the word “disabled” in the production.
At the time, Stiller said in an interview with “TV Spielfilm” that he did not make fun of black people and people with disabilities. “The film is a satire on actors who take themselves too seriously and play roles they shouldn’t be playing. The gags are practically at our expense.”
Downey Jr. also defended the film and the blackface. In a 2020 interview, he said: “I think it’s never an excuse to do something that’s out of place and out of time. In my defence, ‘Tropic Thunder’ is about how wrong blackfacing is, so I made an exception there.”