It's one of the best comedies ever made and Ben Stiller says it couldn't be made today for fear of censorship

It has been 18 years since one of those outrageous but incredibly funny comedies hit theaters, the kind Ben Stiller has built much of his career on, such as Zoolander, Night at the Museum, and Starsky & Hutch. We’re talking about Tropic Thunder, a wildly over-the-top film featuring an all-star cast, including heavyweight performers like Robert Downey Jr. (in blackface), Tom Cruise (bald), Matthew McConaughey, and Jack Black.

For Stiller, the movie feels even more remarkable today because, as he recently admitted, making it now would be nearly impossible.

The main reason Stiller feels that way is Robert Downey Jr.’s character and, more specifically, the fact that he plays a Black character, which remains one of the film’s most outrageous and talked-about comedic elements.

“The idea of Robert playing that character who’s playing an African American character, I mean, incredibly dicey,” Stiller told Variety in an interview.

“Even at the time, of course, it was dicey too. 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.”

Stiller went on to explain how much harder it has become to make boundary-pushing comedy. “Obviously, in this environment, edgier comedy is just harder to do,” he continued.

“Definitely not at the scale we made it at, too, in terms of the economics of the business. I think even at the time we were fortunate to get it made, and I credit that, actually, to Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks. He read it and was like, ‘Alright, let’s make this thing.’”

What is Tropic Thunder about?

This outrageous comedy follows a group of actors who travel to Vietnam to shoot a war movie, led by action star Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) and method actor Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.).

Everything falls apart when a real local guerrilla group kidnaps Speedman, setting off a string of absurd and hilarious situations, much to the fury of producer Les Grossman (Tom Cruise). The result is one of the standout comedies of the 2000s.

Tropic Thunder didn’t just boast a star-studded main cast. It also featured cameo appearances from other major names, including Tobey Maguire, Martin Lawrence, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Alicia Silverstone, Jon Voight, and Jason Bateman, among others.

Tropic Thunder is currently available on the streaming platform Paramount+.

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