20 facts you might not know about 'Tropic Thunder'

Tropic Thunder wouldn’t be released until 2008, but Stiller first got the idea decades earlier. The actor-turned-director got the first germ for the concept while acting in the war movie Empire of the Sun in 1987.

Stiller co-wrote, directed, and starred in Tropic Thunder . One of the other writers on the movie? Justin Theroux. He’s primarily known as an actor, perhaps best known for The Leftovers. He also has writing credits on Iron Man 2 and Zoolander 2.

Tropic Thunder was always going to be about actors taking themselves too seriously, but the nature of the plot changed. Initially, the script was about actors who go to a boot camp and return with PTSD. Then, they pivoted to a version of the story that could also lampoon war movies. The proliferation of celebrity news and companies like TMZ over the years helped make writing the script easier since Stiller and Theroux realized moviegoers would be more aware of the inner workings of Hollywood.

When Stiller first conceived the film, he thought he would only play the smaller role of Rick Peck, Tugg Speedman’s agent. Keanu Reeves was who he had in mind for the role of Tugg. Eventually, Stiller starred as well as directed.

With Stiller playing Tugg, the role of Rick was offered to…Tom Cruise. Cruise pitched the idea of a studio head character. Stiller went along with it, and thus, the character of Les Grossman, perhaps the best remembered part of the movie, was born.

Cruise buried himself in prosthetics to play Les (the big hands were his idea), and he and Stiller did not want the cameo ruined. Paramount did not release any images of Cruise in the film, and his overall involvement in the movie was supposed to be kept secret. Then, pictures of Cruise in costume popped up online. After this, Cruise’s lawyers sprung into action. Soon enough, the photos of Cruise as Grossman were removed from the internet.

With Cruise playing Grossman, somebody still had to play Rick Peck. Enter: Stiller’s frequent co-star Owen Wilson. Sadly, Wilson attempted suıcide in 2007 and understandably dropped out of the role. He was replaced by Matthew McConaughey.

When the character of Kirk Lazarus was written, he was supposed to be Irish. Perhaps the ultimate method actor was spoofing Daniel Day-Lewis. However, Downey Jr. asked him to be Australian instead. He had done an Australian accent before and felt more comfortable doing comedy and improvising with an Australian accent.

The production needed a last-minute replacement for the actor starring alongside Kirk Lazarus in Satan’s Alley. Enter: Maguire. He was only available for two hours but still managed to film his small role. Fittingly, Downey Jr. and Maguire played characters who have a sexual tryst in Wonder Boys.

Brandon T. Jackson plays Alpa Chino, but the role was initially offered to Kevin Hart. However, Hart turned down the role because he did not want to play a gay character.

Coogan’s Damien Cockburn and his experience are purportedly partially inspired by the saga of South African director Richard Stanley. Stanley had been hired to direct The Island of Dr. Moreau but was beset by issues on set, including having to deal with Val Kilmer and Marlon Brando, two of the most difficult actors ever to walk the face of the Earth. He was fired and replaced by John Frankenheimer, but Stanley secretly returned to the shooting location to spy on the film. Hey, at least he wasn’t blown up by a landmine.

Black was offered the role of Jeff Portnoy, but he was initially hesitant. Specifically, he did not like the idea of dying his hair blonde. That ultimately didn’t keep him from doing the film, but he still expressed his displeasure with his hair in the movie. To add injury to insult, Black bruised his ribs early in production and had to gut it out.

Stiller considered shooting in Southern California, Mexico, or Hawaii. He ended up choosing Hawaii. He shot on the island of Kaua’i, where he just so happened to own a home. The production was the first on the island in five years and was reportedly the largest film production in the history of Kaua’i.

After retiring from the Marine Corps, Dale Dye founded Warriors Inc., a company that provides military training and advisement on films. Over the years, Dye has worked on many serious movies and TV shows, such as Platoon and Band of Brothers. Dye and Warriors Inc. worked on Tropic Thunder. Stiller wasn’t sure how Dye would feel about the film, especially since Nick Nolte plays a character who effectively pokes fun at people like Dye. However, Dye relished the opportunity to work on a broad comedy.

The last scene shot for Tropic Thunder? That would be the commercial for Alpa Chino’s energy drink Booty Sweat. Also, it was shot early on Thanksgiving morning, and after filming, Brandon T. Jackson rushed to the airport to fly home to spend the holiday with his family. By the way, for a brief moment, Booty Sweat was available as a marketing promotion.

The war movie filmed in Tropic Thunder is quite gory, and the action gets all too real for the actors. However, this is not a movie with a terribly high body count, at least on screen. Two of the on-screen deaths are animals — a panda and a bat. The other is director Damien Cockburn, whose death is admittedly violent but resulted from an accident.

Tropic Thunder went all in on the marketing. Part of that was creating a mockumentary about the making of the film being made in Tropic Thunder. The film, which stars Theroux as the documentarian, is called Rain of Madness and serves as a parody of Hearts of Darkness, the iconic documentary about Apocalypse Now.

Tropic Thunder was moved from a July release date to a mid-August release date, considered a less robust time for films. It was also a time when R-rated comedies had been hitting. The move paid off. Tropic Thunder was the top movie at the domestic box office for three weeks in a row. The film made $195.7 million worldwide from a budget of $92 million.

The Golden Globes have categories for musical and comedy films, so the fact Downey and Cruise got nominations is not surprising. However, Downey was a big hit on the award circuit for Tropic Thunder. He was also nominated for a BAFTA, a SAG, and, yes, an Oscar. Downey did not win, losing to Heath Ledger for his turn as the Joker in The Dark Knight. A guy from a comic-book movie beat a guy from a comedy. It was a weird year for the Academy Awards.

Cruise loves playing Les Grossman. He played him at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards, and that year, talk of a spinoff movie about Grossman began. After years of laying fallow, it was reported in 2022 that Cruise and his go-to director Christopher McQuarrie are developing the spinoff once again.