‘It would be incredibly risky’: Ben Stiller thinks it would be almost impossible to remake the 16-year-old film

We are of course familiar with actor Ben Stiller, who over the years has been widely popular in the comedy gamut, be it as the voice actor for My Stepdad and Me, Night at the Museum and its sequels, Secret Men, The Mayor of Pharrell Brothers, In animated films like Madagascar or Megamind… to name just a few examples.

And then there’s the director who signed his first feature film, Generation 90, in 1994. It is to him that we owe the hedgehog Zoolander released in 2002. Quite washed up by the critic, the actor – the director can still be proud of this film for being a favorite of a certain Terrence Malick, who is not known for his comedies.

Six years later, Ben Stiller is back with Little Nagger, a bitter satire of the Hollywood world. Totally crazy and exciting comedy: Thunder in the Tropics. A project that came from afar, after he matured it for twenty years.

We fondly remember his casting adventure among five real fake actors with big egos, including the brilliant Robert Downey Jr. aka Kirk Lazarus, a multi-award winning and 100% frosty “Method” actor. And then, of course, the absolutely iconic character played by Tom Cruise, aka Les Grossman.

In a long interview with the site ColliderBen Stiller, covering his career and current affairs, rightfully invites the film. “Could a movie like Tropic Thunder be made today?” the journalist asks him.

“That would be incredibly risky.”

“I doubt it” Stiller replies. Obviously, in this environment, bold comedy is more difficult to do. Certainly not on the scale we did, from an economic point of view. I think we had a chance to achieve that then, and I attribute that to, in fact, Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks.

He adds: “The idea of ​​Robert playing this character as an African-American is incredibly risky. Even then, of course, it was risky. The only reason we tried it was because I felt the joke was too obvious. As for who it’s aimed at: Actors trying to do something to win awards.

But now, in this environment, I don’t even know if I would dare to do it, to be honest. I’m honest.”