Ben Stiller Doubts ‘Tropic Thunder’ Could Get Made “In This Environment”: “Edgier Comedy Is Just Harder To Do”

Armando Tinoco
·1-min read

Ben Stiller doesn’t think that if pitched today, Tropic Thunder would ever get made.

In a new interview, the Zoolander actor explained why he thinks the 2008 satirical action comedy film he directed and co-wrote would have difficulty getting greenlit.

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“I doubt it. Obviously, in this environment, edgier comedy is just harder to do,” Stiller told Collider. “Definitely not at the scale we made it at, too, in terms of the economics of the business.”

Tropic Thunder starred Robert Downey Jr. playing Kirk Lazarus, an Australian method actor who uses blackface to portray an African American soldier.

Stiller noted that “even at the time, we were fortunate to get it made,” crediting Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks with helping get it greenlit.

“[Spielberg] read it and was like, ‘Alright, let’s make this thing,'” Stiller said noting that the film was “a very inside movie.”

“The idea of Robert playing that character who’s playing an African American character, I mean, incredibly dicey. Even at the time, of course, it was dicey too,” he continued. “The only reason we attempted it was I felt like the joke was very clear in terms of who that joke was on — actors trying to do anything to win awards. But now, in this environment, I don’t even know if I would have ventured to do it, to tell you the truth. I’m being honest.”

Downey Jr. received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his work on Tropic Thunder but lost to Heath Ledger, who won posthumously for his role as The Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.

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