.... that's an INTERESTING choice, at least.

[theweaselking]

Guy in the front? Ben Stiller.
Guy in the back? Jack Black.
Guy in the middle, with the inset closeup? Robert Downey Junior.

Comments

[elffin.livejournal.com]

Muscles in my face I didn't even know existed just awoke and decided to perform jazzercise.

[kadath.livejournal.com]

When I saw this, I was like, "Yeah, that could work in a really biting satire...oh wait, Ben Stiller."

[fortysevenbteg.livejournal.com]

You know...I dunno. That image, despite the actors involved... just rocks.

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

That's pretty damn good makeup artistry, there.

[redtheda.livejournal.com]

Woah. I totally thought that was Don Cheadle or someone like that at first. And if I had to guess I'd think the guy in the back was Phillip Seymour Hoffman (although he's much taller than that). Weird!

[seriesfinale.livejournal.com]

Oh no, oh no, oh no

I really like Downey Jr. but what the fuck

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

From the article, he's not playing a black character. He's playing a mad prima-donna white actor, who's been cast into a role originally written as black and refuses to let them rewrite the role.

This *could* be hilarious. It could also be a monumental train wreck.

From the article: "If it's done right, it could be the type of role you called Peter Sellers to do 35 years ago," Downey says. "If you don't do it right, we're going to hell."

[caerlas.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly. There will inevitably be some with no sense of humor out there who will immediately compare it to actors performing in blackface back in the early 20th. I'm almost biting my nails wondering whether this will work.

[spurious-logic.livejournal.com]

Must see this, if for no other reason than to see if RDj can pull it off.

Eddie Murphy did it in Coming to America - well, in photo negative.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

There's a huge difference between Eddie Murphy and the Wayans Idiots doing whiteface and a white actor doing blackface.

This is a much harder trick to pull off.

[dreamshade.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, there's also a big difference between Peter Sellers and Ben Stiller.

[atlasimpure.livejournal.com]

But a much smaller difference between Sellers and Downey.

[dreamshade.livejournal.com]

Fair enough.

[seriesfinale.livejournal.com]

Ah, OK, I jumped to conclusions and that's what I get for not reading your link fully..."my bad." I thought Downey Jr.'s artistic ego had goaded him into trying to pull this off.

I work as a union rep in the entertainment industry and I know how hard it is black actors to get work to begin with ("colorblind" casting is pretty close to non-existent even still) without ole Robert taking their roles.