When we saw this first image of Tropic Thunder over at EW.com (click here to see it bigger), we thought it looked fun, that Ben Stiller's guns make us jealous and that Jack Black looks a bit like a porky albino version of Laurence Fishburne in The Matrix. But it didn't make us laugh out loud.
Then we noticed the guy in the middle and our eyes fell out of our head in mirth and amazement. Guessed who it is? That would be Robert Downey Jr. Yes, the very much white Robert Downey Jr. This film, it seems, is not afraid to go all guns blazing into the world of the politically incorrect.
The film tells of a group of pompous actors making the most expensive Vietnam war movie ever made. Fed up with their self-involved cast, the film's makers drop them into the jungle to take care of themselves, where they get caught up in a conflict they don't realise is real. The cast also includes Steve Coogan, Nick Nolte and cameos from Tom Cruise and Tobey Maguire.
According to EW's story, Downey Jr plays an Oscar-winner taking on a role originally written for a black actor. Rather than re-write the part, he goes method. Downey Jr says, "If it's done right, it could be the type of role you called Peter Sellers to do 35 years ago. If you don't do it right, we're going to hell." Just a little bit.
This film, Stiller's first as director since Zoolander, sounds like it's going to be quite an experience. A lot of it sounds hilarious, but this could upset a lot of more sensitive people (Stiller's character also adopts an Asian baby but worries "that all the good ones have gone"). Bring it on, we say. Sounds like it could be the comedy of the year.
Click here to read more amusing details about the film. Our favourite part? That Stiller got the idea over twenty years ago while shooting Empire of the Sun.