Robert Downey Jr. Understands The Importance Of Doing Blackface Right March 6, 2008
In 1993 Ted Danson paid tribute to his then girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg at a Friars Club roast. Danson performed in blackface, used the N-word several times, caused quite the stir, and got called racist by a bunch of people (even though Goldberg had written most of his material and secured the makeup artist who painted his face). Danson is the perfect example of BGW (Blackface Gone Wrong).
In the new film Tropic Thunder, Robert Downey Jr. plays 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 magazine. “If you don’t do it right, we’re going to hell.”
To keep the character from becoming a caricature (and to prevent another case of BGW), Downey “dove in with both feet.”
“If I didn’t feel it was morally sound,” he said, “or that it would be easily misinterpreted that I’m just C. Thomas Howell in (Soul Man), I would’ve stayed home.”
Tropic Thunder, which is set to be released Aug. 15, also stars Jack Black and Ben Stiller, who co-wrote, directed and produced it.
[Showbuzz]
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.
Woa. I kind of really want to see Ted Danson in blackface now.