Trailer Tuesday: Tropic Thunder

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Admittedly, this one completely slipped under my radar until some weeks back, when the first image was revealed of Robert Downey Jnr, in incredibly convincing make-up, as a black soldier. Well, actually Downey Jnr is playing an intense, multi-award winning white actor who is so dedicated to his craft that he undergoes plastic surgery to literally transform himself into a black man for his next role...


Yeah, that description just about perfectly sets the tone for Tropic Thunder, which is being described as follows:

In the action-comedy "Tropic Thunder," Ben Stiller plays pampered action superstar Tugg Speedman, who is cast in the biggest, most expensive war movie ever produced.

He sets out to Southeast Asia with a "Who's Who" of celebrity co-stars. They include Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), an intense, three-time Oscar-winning actor; Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), star of the popular gross-out comedy franchise "The Fatties"; multi-platinum hiphop-star-turned-entrepreneur-turned-actor Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson); and first-timer Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel).

Soon after the production begins the actors are thrown into a real-life situation and are forced to become the fighting unit they're portraying, in order to find a way out of the jungle in one piece.


Written and directed by Ben Stiller (his first return to the director's chair since 2001's Zoolander), Tropic Thunder could be a lot of fun. Early buzz has been very positive. I'm expecting plenty of tongue-in-cheek pokes at the Vietnam movie greats, as well as the ludicrisies of Hollywood.

Plus, the trio teaming of Stiller, Black and Downey Jnr sounds fantastic.
For the record, Tom Cruise, Tobey Maguire and Matthew McConaughey (replacing Own Wilson) also all have cameo appearances in the film.

Tropic Thunder is released on 15 August in the States. Expect it to open in South Africa sometime between that date and the end of September.

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But enough about Trailer Tuesday... how was Coke Fest? Anyone do anything really exciting this last long weekend?

I played plenty of World of WarCraft, watched several DVDs (about all you can do with a painkiller gulping boyfriend who is recovering from tonsillectomy), caught Juno at the cinema, finished Michael Ende's The Neverending Story, had a family braai and ate way too many marshmallow easter eggs. All in all, a good extended weekend, if always too short.

Comments

Anonymous said…
And doesn't he just look like Don Cheadle. I killed myself laughing at that trailer. Definitely a movie to go see. Awesome blog.
8:50 PM
Pfangirl said…
Thanks for the comments, mdw[dot]com, yeah, he does look a lot like Don Cheadle, doesn't he? :)
7:51 AM
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