Tropic Thunder (2008) on Netflix
Tugg Speedman, Kirk Lazarus, Jeff Portnoy, Alpa Chino and Kevin Sandusky star in a Vietnam War movie. When costs balloon, their director drops the five into the jungle.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb7.1/10497,771 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes82%
Trailer
Plot summary
Four Leaf Tayback, a Vietnam veteran who lost both hands in the war, wrote a memoir that a studio is adapting. The shoot is in Vietnam, and the cast is trouble: Tugg Speedman, a fading action star; Kirk Lazarus, an Australian method actor who had his skin darkened to play a black sergeant and refuses to break character; Jeff Portnoy, a comic known for flatulence gags and drug use; rapper Alpa Chino; and Kevin Sandusky, the newcomer who actually read the script. Director Damien Cockburn cannot control them, a four-million-dollar pyrotechnics scene is wasted, and studio executive Les Grossman threatens to cancel the project. On Four Leaf's advice, Cockburn drops the actors into the jungle with hidden cameras and guns that fire blanks. They do not know the area belongs to a heroin gang.
Cast
Show all 20 cast
- Dempsey Silvaas Special Effects Assistant - Vietnam Crew
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Tropic Thunder (2008)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Tom Cruise was initially set to cameo as Stiller's character's agent, Rick Peck, but instead suggested adding a studio head character; Stiller and Cruise worked together to create Les Grossman, and it was Cruise's idea to give the character large hands and dance to "Low".
- The opening napalm explosion used a 450-foot row of explosive pots holding 1,100 gallons of gasoline and diesel; because the single 1.25-second blast was so costly, it was filmed only once from twelve cameras, with the crew kept 400 feet away for safety.
- Ben Stiller developed the premise for Tropic Thunder while shooting Empire of the Sun, in which he played a small part, wanting to make a film based on the actors he knew who became "self-important" and appeared to believe that they had been part of a real military unit after boot camps for war film roles.
- Downey said on CBS's The Early Show that his first reaction to the part was "This is the stupidest idea I've ever heard!" and that Stiller responded, "Yeah, I know - isn't it great?"
- A coalition of more than 20 disability advocacy groups, including the Special Olympics and the Arc of the United States, objected to the film's repeated use of the word "retard", and DreamWorks offered to screen the film for the groups on August 8 to determine if it still offended them.
- In November 2007, images of Cruise wearing a bald headpiece and a fatsuit appeared on Inside Edition as well as on the Internet, and Cruise's attorneys threatened a lawsuit if photos showing him in costume were published.
- Owen Wilson was originally cast as agent Rick Peck after Cruise left the role, but Wilson dropped out following his August 2007 suicide attempt and was replaced by Matthew McConaughey.
- The rapper character Alpa Chino has a name that is a play on Al Pacino, and Kevin Hart turned down the role because he did not want to play a gay character.
