44 Fun Facts About Tropic Thunder

Who directed Tropic Thunder?

Ben Stiller directed Tropic Thunder (2008), his fourth feature as director after Reality Bites, The Cable Guy and Zoolander.

The director conceived the premise while acting in a small role in which 1987 war film?

Ben Stiller played a minor role in Spielberg's Empire of the Sun (1987) and noticed actors returning from boot camp behaving as if they were real veterans.

What is the name of the fading action-star character played by the director?

Tugg Speedman is Stiller's fading action hero, once a top-grossing star thanks to the Scorcher franchise, now chasing respect in a Vietnam war epic.

Tugg's fake trailer at the start of the film is for which sequel?

Scorcher VI: Global Meltdown is the first of the film's three fake trailers, casting Speedman as a franchise hero facing a new ice age.

What is the title of Tugg's box-office bomb in which he played a farm boy who can talk to animals?

Simple Jack was Speedman's failed bid for an Oscar; his kidnappers later turn out to be its biggest fans and make him re-enact it.

Robert Downey Jr.'s Kirk Lazarus is a method actor of what nationality?

The script made him Irish until Downey said he could improvise better as an Australian, as he had in Natural Born Killers.

How many Academy Awards has Kirk Lazarus supposedly won?

Kirk Lazarus is introduced as a five-time Academy Award winner, so committed to method acting that he undergoes 'pigmentation alteration' surgery for the role.

What is the name of the Black character Lazarus plays in the film-within-a-film?

Downey recorded the real DVD commentary in character as Osiris.

Downey said he modeled Lazarus on which three actors?

Downey described Lazarus as a combination of Russell Crowe, Daniel Day-Lewis and Colin Farrell, three actors famed for intense immersion in their roles.

Which actor cameos as the other monk in Satan's Alley?

Tobey Maguire plays the second monk opposite Lazarus, reuniting with Downey, his co-star from the 2000 film Wonder Boys.

Jack Black's Jeff Portnoy is famous for which family comedy franchise?

The Fatties: Fart 2 trailer spoofs Eddie Murphy playing every member of a family.

Which character does Brandon T. Jackson play?

Brandon T. Jackson plays Alpa Chino, a rapper-turned-actor whose name is a pun on Al Pacino.

What is the name of the energy drink the rapper character promotes, which Paramount actually sold?

Booty Sweat, Alpa Chino's energy drink, was really produced by Paramount and sold in stores and online; his candy bar was Bust-A-Nut.

Which comedian turned down the rapper role because he did not want to play a gay character?

Kevin Hart later admitted he passed on Alpa Chino because the character was gay; Brandon T. Jackson took the part.

Kevin Sandusky, played by Jay Baruchel, is the only actor who did what?

Sandusky is the only cast member who read the script and did the boot camp, which is why he can navigate once the stars are stranded.

Nick Nolte's Four Leaf Tayback claims to have lost what in Vietnam?

Four Leaf wears hooks and claims he lost his hands in Vietnam; late in the film he reveals both hands are intact.

Where did Four Leaf really serve, as he confesses to Cody?

Four Leaf admits he served in the Coast Guard sanitation department and never went to Vietnam, writing his memoir as a tribute to real soldiers.

How does director Damien Cockburn die?

Damien Cockburn steps on an old land mine moments after dropping the actors in the jungle; Tugg assumes the death was staged for realism.

What is the name of the heroin-producing gang the actors stumble into?

Flaming Dragon is the heroin gang whose Golden Triangle territory the actors wander into, mistaking its fighters for the film's extras.

How old is Tran, the gang's leader?

Tran, played by Brandon Soo Hoo, is the gang's 12-year-old leader, a child warlord who turns out to adore Simple Jack.

What contractual perk does Tugg's agent fight Les Grossman over?

Rick later saves everyone by throwing a TiVo box into the path of an RPG.

What does Les Grossman give Tugg's agent to keep him quiet about abandoning Tugg?

Grossman offers Rick Peck the lease to a Gulfstream jet to let Tugg die, since the studio can collect the insurance rather than pay a ransom.

Who plays Rick 'The Pecker' Peck?

Matthew McConaughey plays Rick Peck, Tugg's loyal agent, whose obsession with getting his client a TiVo pays off in the finale.

Which actor was originally cast as the agent before dropping out after a personal crisis?

Owen Wilson was cast as Rick Peck but withdrew in August 2007 following a personal health crisis; Matthew McConaughey replaced him.

Tom Cruise was originally going to cameo as which character before Les Grossman was created?

Tom Cruise was first lined up to cameo as agent Rick Peck, then suggested adding a studio-head character, which became Les Grossman.

Which two physical touches were Cruise's own idea for Les Grossman?

He also wore a fatsuit and bald cap; leaked photos in 2007 prompted lawsuit threats.

Which actor plays Rob Slolom, Les Grossman's studio assistant?

Bill Hader plays Rob Slolom, Les Grossman's studio assistant, a role he took while still a Saturday Night Live cast member.

Which Ludacris song plays over Grossman's end-credits dance?

Ludacris's 'Get Back' (2004) soundtracks Grossman's end-credits dance; his mid-film dance is to Flo Rida's 'Low'.

On which Hawaiian island was Tropic Thunder mostly filmed?

Tropic Thunder shot mostly on Kauaʻi, where Stiller owns a home; it was the largest production in the island's history.

How many weeks did principal photography on the island last?

Principal photography on Kauaʻi ran 13 weeks in 2007, with two ground units and an aerial unit working across the island.

The opening napalm explosion used how much gasoline and diesel?

The napalm blast burned about 1,100 gallons of gasoline and diesel in a single 1.25-second take captured by twelve cameras.

Cody Underwood's reputation as a pyromaniac stems from nearly blinding which Freaky Friday actress?

Cody claims he nearly blinded Jamie Lee Curtis on the set of Freaky Friday, the mishap behind his pyromaniac reputation.

What was the title of the fake behind-the-scenes mockumentary released as promotion?

Rain of Madness, a mockumentary fronted by Justin Theroux as German documentarian Jan Jürgen, was released online ahead of the film.

Which promo website did DreamWorks pull in 2008 after protests from disability advocates?

DreamWorks pulled the Simple Jack promo site in August 2008 after disability groups including the Special Olympics objected; the film itself was not re-edited.

How many consecutive weekends did the film hold the number one spot at the North American box office?

Tropic Thunder topped the North American box office for three consecutive weekends, from its mid-August 2008 opening through the Labor Day frame.

Roughly how much did Tropic Thunder gross worldwide?

Tropic Thunder grossed over $195 million worldwide, about $110 million of it in North America, against a budget of roughly $92 million.

Robert Downey Jr. earned an Academy Award nomination for the film in which category?

Robert Downey Jr. was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 81st Academy Awards, losing to Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight.

Who composed the film's score?

Theodore Shapiro wrote the score; he also scored Stiller's Dodgeball and later The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

Cruise reprised Les Grossman at which 2010 event, sparking spin-off talk?

Cruise danced as Les Grossman with Jennifer Lopez at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards, prompting Paramount to announce a spin-off script by Michael Bacall.

Which US Marine Corps base hosted a screening for over a thousand service members before release?

Camp Pendleton in California hosted a USO screening for more than a thousand Marines, with Stiller, Downey and Black arriving by helicopter and Humvee.

Who co-wrote the Tropic Thunder screenplay with Ben Stiller?

Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen share the screenplay credit with Stiller; the story credit goes to Stiller and Theroux alone.

Which animated 2008 release did Tropic Thunder beat to the top of the box office on its opening weekend?

Star Wars: The Clone Wars opened the same weekend of August 15, 2008 and finished third, while Tropic Thunder took $25.8 million for first place.

The faux documentary Rain of Madness parodied which real film about a troubled shoot?

Rain of Madness parodies Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991), the documentary about Francis Ford Coppola's chaotic Apocalypse Now shoot.

Which two Tropic Thunder actors received Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor?

Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise were both nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 2009 Golden Globes, where Heath Ledger won.