Friday, March 7, 2008

Robert Downey Jr. Dons Blackface




Um, what is the business with this? Apparently Robert Downey Jr. is playing a black man in the new movie Tropic Thunder.

Downey, 42, plays overly committed actor Kirk Lazarus, a white man cast to play a black soldier in a satire of the performing profession.

“If it’s done right, it could be the type of role you called Peter Sellers to do 35 years ago,” Downey told Entertainment Weekly. “If you don’t do it right, we’re going to hell.”

Tropic Thunder hits theaters on August 15th.

I'm trying to reserve judgment until I see it. Let's just hope Al Sharpton doesn't hear about it first.

2 comments:

SANKOFA said...

Thats not "Black Face" it's makeup and so what, How many times has Eddie Murphy made himself up to play a Caucasian role in his movies.

Anonymous said...

One of the other writers on Highbrid Nation wrote about Robert Downy playing a black man. He worries that Al Sharpton might have something to say about it, lol. Honestly as a black person I think it's kinda cool that movie make-up has gotten to the point where you can make someone look like another race and if the pics I've seen of Robert Downy in costume are accurate than they did a really good job! Plus Robert is a very capable actor so I'm sure he wont come across as stereo typical or offensive. I could be wrong though.