Ben Stiller leads an eclectic group of actors making a war movie in TROPIC THUNDER
TROPIC THUNDER (Ben Stiller, 2008)
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. between Eighth Ave. & Broadway
Sunday, December 8, 1:00
Series runs December 6-8
212-875-5050 / 212-875-5166
www.filmlinc.com
Director and star Ben Stiller takes on Oliver Stone (Platoon), Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now), Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter), Stanley Kubrick (Full Metal Jacket), Sylvester Stallone (First Blood), and just about everyone else who has ever made a movie about the Vietnam War in the hysterical spoof Tropic Thunder. Stiller, who also is one of the writers and producers, plays Tugg Speedman, a onetime huge action star whose career is in the toilet, especially after his disastrous attempt to win an Oscar by going “full retard” in Simple Jack. His castmates on the film within a film include Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), who has amassed a fortune making flatulence flicks and wants to be respected as a real actor; Oscar-winning Method actor Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), who has undergone a controversial procedure to darken his skin so he can play a black soldier; hip-hop star Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), who never misses a chance to hype his bootylicious thirst quencher; and Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel), a young actor who is just happy to be in the movie, which is based on a book written by gruff and grizzled Vietnam vet John “Four Leaf” Tayback (Nick Nolte). When troubles on the set threaten to end production, director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) takes the cast into the jungle, where he hopes to give the film a more realistic feel. But soon the troops, with their prop rifles and hand grenades, are battling a very real drug cartel with very real weapons. Tropic Thunder is a multilayered farce that is fresh and funny from start to finish. In fact, it begins with a riotous series of pseudo-commercials and previews that introduce the main characters. The smart send-up of all aspects of the entertainment industry also features a surprise appearance by one of Hollywood’s top stars giving what might be his most memorable performance ever as an insanely powerful foul-mouthed studio head with no morals. Tropic Thunder is screening December 8 at 1:00 as part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center festival “Ben Stiller Directs,” which looks back at the directing career of the son of Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara upon the release of his latest, a remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. The three-day series also includes The Cable Guy, Reality Bites, and the cult favorite Zoolander, with Stiller on hand for that film as well as Mitty to talk about his work.