Ninety percent of his Black pals thought Robert Downey Jr.’s Tropic Thunder performance was great, according to him
Over the course of his lengthy and remarkable career in the film industry, Robert Downey Jr. has received numerous major awards.
From winning a Golden Globe for «Best Actor» for his performance in the 2010 Sherlock Holmes film to winning numerous People’s Choice Awards for his legendary portrayal of Iron Man in the Marvel television series, Downey has accomplished a great deal in his career.
But one movie in particular tends to come up time and time again in any conversation about Downey: his appearance in the comedy-action picture Tropic Thunder.
Ben Stiller is the director of this film, which narrates the tale of a group of actors who were compelled to transform into the warriors they were playing while filming a high-profile war picture.
The 59-year-old performed the physical transformation of a white guy into a black man—a look more often known as «blackface»—for the role of Kirk Lazarus.
«Blackface» is a phrase used to describe the act of «wearing make-up to imitate the appearance of a black person,» according to the Oxford Dictionary.
From the 1830s until the middle of the 20th century, minstrel shows in the US were linked to the usage of this type of makeup, which is now considered extremely unpleasant.
Naturally, then, a lot of people were made to feel uneasy and offended by a senior actor portraying a character who darkens his complexion and passes for a Black guy through «pigmentation alteration» surgery.
