Movie Quote/Trivia of the Day 1) Kirk Lazarus - Everybody knows you never go full retard. Tugg Speedman - What do you mean? Kirk Lazarus - Check it out. Dustin Hoffman, Rain Man, look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Counted toothpicks, cheated cards. Autistic, sho. Not retarded. You know Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump. Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping-pong competition. That aint retarded. Peter Sellers, Being There. Infantile, yes. Retarded, no. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard. You dont buy that? Ask Sean Penn, 2001, I Am Sam. Remember? Went full retard, went home empty handed... 2) Kirk Lazarus - Man, I dont drop character till I done the DVD commentary. -Kirk Lazarus and Tugg Speedman (Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller in Tropic Thunder) Did you know? Ben Stiller had originally planned Keanu Reeves to play Speedman with Stiller playing Rick Peck. According to Ben Stiller, Tugg Speedman is partially based on a young Sylvester Stallone. Co-writer Ethan Cohen created the role of Kirk Lazarus as a way of lampooning the great lengths that some method actors go to depict a role. Apparently Robert Downey Jr. was approached by Ben Stiller about the part of Kirk Lazarus while on vacation in Hawaii. Robert Downey Jr. was very reluctant to take the role of Kirk Lazarus because he felt wearing the make-up to look African-American was offensive. But Downey later accepted the role because he liked the script and wanted to work with Ben Stiller and Jack Black. Downey said on CBS The Early Show that his first reaction was, This is the stupidest idea Ive ever heard! and that Stiller responded, Yeah I know—isnt it great? In another interview, Downey said that he accepted the part but, having no idea where or even how to start building the character of Osiris, eventually settled on a jive-esque speech pattern and a gruff, ragged bass voice; he then auditioned Lazarus voice over the phone to Stiller, who approved the characterization immediately. Downey revealed that Kirk Lazarus is based on a combination of Russell Crowe, Daniel Day-Lewis and Colin Farrell. The character of Kirk Lazarus was originally written as Irish. It was changed to Australian, when Robert Downey Jr. stated it would be easier for him to improvise in an Australian accent, something hed previously done with his character, Wayne Gale, in Natural Born Killers where he played a similar outlandish Australian character. Downey acknowledged the potential controversy over his role: At the end of the day, its always about how well you commit to the character. If I didnt feel it was morally sound, or that it would be easily misinterpreted that Im just C. Thomas Howell in Soul Man, I wouldve stayed home. Downey is a method actor and usually stays in character between takes and even off the film set. Downey stayed in character as Sgt. Osiris (and, by extension, Lazarus) even while cameras werent rolling. This practice was also written into the script for his character Kirk Lazarus to perform. Stiller previewed Tropic Thunder before several African American journalists and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, who reacted positively to the Robert Downey Jr.s character. Downey required between one and a half to two hours of make-up application to portray the black character. According to Downey, One makeup artist would start on one side of my face and a second makeup artist would start on the other side, and then theyd meet in the middle. In Tropic Thunder, Kirk Lazarus says the line I dont drop character til Ive done the DVD commentary. When recording the audio commentary for the unrated DVD and Blu-ray, Robert Downey Jr. actually spends the entire commentary in the character that appears on the screen as the movie progresses. Jeff Fats Portnoy was written with Jack Black in mind and is partially based on Chris Farley. Apparently Mos Def was originally offered the role of Alpa Chino, but he turned it down. Ben Stiller has cited that nearly all aspects of the Les Grossman character were developed by Tom Cruise, including the dancing and the look of the makeup. Stiller said that in addition to the more obvious makeup effects applied to Cruises face and head, and the extra hair on his chest and arms, Cruise also decided to play the character wearing over sized prosthetic hands. Ben Stiller first came up with the idea for Tropic Thunder while working on Empire of the Sun, in which he played a small part. Tropic Thunders final script was developed to satirize Vietnam War films such as Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, and The Deer Hunter. The Booty Sweat energy drink seen in the movie can still actually be purchased on Amazon as part of a promotional tie-in. Near the end of the movie, during the Oscar ceremony you can see that Jon Voights character is visibly angry when he loses the Oscar to Tugg Speedman. This is a reference to Voight losing the Oscar to John Wayne in True Grit when he was nominated for Midnight Cowboy.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 00:08:52 +0000
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