Axed Robert Downey Jr's $195M Comedy Was Even More Offensive Than Tropic Thunder
The director was afraid his movie would be blown to smithereens.
Jamie Foxx is an accomplished actor, singer, and stand-up comedian, so his directorial debut was only a matter of time. In 2016, he began filming the comedy All-Star Weekend.
Fox and Jeremy Piven played a pair of truckers who get a chance to attend the NBA All-Star Weekend.
The level of insanity is heightened by Robert Downey Jr. as a Mexican, Gerard Butler as a Russian gymnast, and Fox himself in an additional role as a white supremacist cop.
Cameos from DJ Khaled and Floyd Mayweather were also included.
For one reason or another, the movie has yet to see the light of day, and apparently something went wrong with Foxx's production.
Given the synopsis and the list of characters, Foxx is most likely considering modern humor realities and is in no hurry to release a movie that may offend many.
The director himself admitted that, for example, Robert Downey Jr's role in his movie is much more offensive than his character in Tropic Thunder (although it's hard to imagine).
Downey Jr's role in Tropic Trunder was and is still controversial. The actor was accused of using blackface and demanded an apology.
The actor himself understands and recognizes the inadmissibility of blackface in cinema and in the media space in general, but he believes that Tropic Thunder is an exception in this case.
The whole point is that Robert played a white actor playing a black character.
It's a satire of two Hollywood trends that slowly fade at the time – that characters of color are often played by white people, and the way actors do ridiculous things to get into the role.
The joke was about a crazy actor who could not even understand the nonsense he was doing. In the movie, there is even a black character who constantly makes fun of the absurdity of this behavior.
The movie turned out to be a witty comedy, and the viewers took the taboo topics relatively calmly, as they were given the right subtext.
Apparently, Jamie Foxx is not so sure about the message of his movie, otherwise it would have been released a long time ago.