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Characters / Tropic Thunder

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Cast

    Tugg Speedman 

Tugg Speedman

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tugg_speedman.png
Played By: Ben Stiller
Voiced by: Enzo Fortuny (Latin-American Spanish dub), Kenyuu Horiuchi (Japanese dub)

Compared to a young Sylvester Stallone, Tugg was the highest-paid and highest-grossing action film star ever due to his Scorcher franchise. His career has stalled since, and he now has a reputation for appearing in nothing but box office bombs. After a failed attempt at portraying a serious role in Simple Jack, he takes the role of Four Leaf Tayback in an attempt to save his career.

  • The Ahnold: He's a parody of action stars, specifically ones struggling to break out of typecasting.
  • Armor-Piercing Question: "Or are you a dude who has no idea what dude he is, and claims to know what dude he is, by playing other dudes?" Basically, Speedman is pointing out that Kirk method acts so hard that he loses his true self.
  • Badass and Baby: A key part of his Scorcher franchise.
  • Big "NO!": Played for Laughs when he kills a panda.
  • Brief Accent Imitation: Tugg mocks Cockburn, still under the impression that Cockburn isn't decapitated.
  • Buddy Cop Show: During the ET segment, you can see a poster for such a film starring Speedman and Martin Lawrence.
  • Career Resurrection: In-Universe. The film's success revitalizes his career.
  • Chased by Angry Natives: As he escapes the Laotian drug-manufacturing compound and runs to the helicopter.
  • Comically Missing the Point:
    Tyra Banks: Someone close to you said "One more flop and it's over."
    [Beat]
    Speedman: Someone said they were close to me?
  • Crucified Hero Shot: He does it in the movie-within-a-movie, and then looks ridiculous as he overreacts getting repeatedly shot.
  • Defiant to the End: When captured by the Flaming Dragons, he still keeps a brave demeanor. Probably justified, because he thought he was still acting according to the script.
  • Fatal Flaw: Stubbornness, as well as his insecurity and desire to be seen as a great actor. These combined flaws cause him to make some really stupid decisions as the film moves along, and not listening to Kirk or Kevin when they suspect something is wrong.
  • Going Native: After being taken by Flaming Dragon, it doesn't take much for Tugg to start enjoying his time there because he's so appreciated for Simple Jack.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Feels a lot of animosity toward Kirk Lazarus for having the prestigious acting career that he wants, though he also clearly wants his recognition as an actor. By the end of the movie, he gets both.
  • He Really Can Act: In-Universe, he wins an Oscar for his performance at the end as part of his career resurrection.
  • Heroic BSoD: He loses it after he kills a panda, an animal he loves more than anything else in the world.
  • Ice-Cream Koan: Subverted. Speedman tells Kirk, "Or are you a dude who has no idea what dude he is, and claims to know what dude he is, by playing other dudes?" which to the other actors sounds like gibberish, but describes Kirk so well that he breaks down into tears.
  • I'm Cold... So Cold...: Somehow parodied for "real". Tugg claims to not be able to feel his legs while they're trying to escape from the drug compound. Turns out it's just that he's sitting in a pool of cold, muddy water.
  • Inspirationally Disadvantaged: His role in Simple Jack was meant to be this, but he overplayed it. Lazarus tells him the truth of it in an unforgettable monologue.
    Lazarus: Check it out. Dustin Hoffman, Rain Man, look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Count toothpicks, cheat at cards. Autistic, sure. Not retarded. You know Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump, Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping-pong competition. That ain't retarded. Peter Sellers, Being There. Infantile, yes. Retarded, no. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard. You don't buy that? Ask Sean Penn, 2001, i am sam. Remember? Went full retard, went home empty-handed...
  • In-Universe Factoid Failure: Tugg confuses the Teen Choice Awards with the Kids Choice Awards by saying that Kevin would be slimed.
  • I Choose to Stay: He eventually believes he is already at home with the Flaming Dragons and refuses to go back home. It doesn't last long.
  • Ironic Echo: "I can't feel my legs." First as part of the film within a film, and then said during the final escape sequence. Except that Tugg's able to cry and can't feel his legs because he's sitting on a cold puddle.
  • Ironic Hell: Ends up in one when nabbed by Flaming Dragon, who force him to perform Simple Jack over and over.
  • Kindhearted Simpleton: As Simple Jack.
  • The Leader: The five actors eventually form a Five-Man Band, and they have Tugg as their leader until he gets captured.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: "I think I know a prop head when I see one!" says Tugg as he hefts what is an obvious prop head, seeing as Cockburn's actor is still alive...
  • Lost in Character: Not to the extent of Kirk, but Tugg attempted to reach similar extremes in his roles; offhand he uses prostethetic hands when off-set to get into character as Four-Leaf. In an earlier film he mentioned attempting to be mentally disabled so closely he was afraid he'd gone too far and "flushed too much out."
  • Meta Casting: Averted. Ben Stiller plays mostly comedic roles, not action heroes. Though he gets a handful of funny moments in the movie, his role is one of the most serious.
  • Mean Character, Nice Actor: Downplayed. Despite playing a gravelly-voiced Action Hero, Tugg himself is a good-natured, slightly timid man who loves pandas (funding charities for their preservation) and once co-authored a children's book.
  • Mind Screw: Kirk trying to get Speedman out of his Heroic BSoD promptly backfires.
    Tugg: Or are you a dude who has no idea what dude he is, and claims to know what dude he is, by playing other dudes?
  • Nemean Skinning: Does this to a panda.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: He's a parody of a young Sylvester Stallone: a guy best-known for action schlock with a dozen sequels who's desperately trying to break into something more weighty, and who does have some decent chops but tends to shoot above his limits.
  • Oscar Bait: Tried and failed with Simple Jack, a movie about a mentally disabled farmhand who talks to animals.
  • Outrun the Fireball: Subverted. Tugg does this near the end, when the bridge to his helicopter's landing spot is rigged with explosives. He isn't quick enough, but he's alright afterwards.
  • Playing Against Type: In-universe, he tried to pull this off by going from a popular action star to a dramatic actor. It backfired horrendously. The movie he's filming now is a more lateral shift; while still a serious drama rather than a dumb popcorn flick, it's a war film with a lot of special effects, which is much closer to Tug's wheelhouse than Simple Jack.
  • Pluralses:
    Tugg: Chill! All right? Just chill it. Now, let's go get those Vietcongs.
    Alpa: "Vietcong"!
    Tugg: What?
    Alpa: It's "Vietcong." There's no "S." It's already plural. You wouldn't say "Chineses."
  • Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: In the river scene, he says he is going to "Exterior, rain forest, dusk. Smash cut to Four Leaf, who treks alone through a frightening jungle."
  • Sanity Slippage: After he accidentally kills a panda he starts losing his mind. By the time Kirk finds him he's convinced he's found his true people among the Flaming Dragons since they appreciate his acting (specifically as the titular protagonist of Simple Jack).
  • Sequelitis: Parodied In-Universe. Tugg Speedman's Scorcher series received no less than five sequels. The 6th one, Scorcher VI: Global Meltdown, turned the concept of the Earth, being a giant fireball in the previous movies, to a frozen wasteland because the previous films had exhausted the previously mentioned concept.
    "Here we go again. Again..."
  • Tom Hanks Syndrome: He attempted to invoke this in-universe with Simple Jack. It ends up regarded as the worst film ever made, and Tyra Banks, on her talk show, told him that if Tropic Thunder fails, it will be the end of his career. Later, in the story proper, when they are formulating a rescue plan, Alpa and Kirk see Speedman playing out Simple Jack for the Golden Triangle gang, and Alpa tells Kirk he "thought the movie was bad."
  • Unable to Cry: He can't cry on set, leading to a rift between him and the "award winner" Kirk Lazarus.
  • White-Dwarf Starlet: Tugg is on the verge of becoming this according to Les, who actually uses the term "white dwarf".

    Kirk Lazarus 

Kirk Lazarus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kirk_lazarus.png
Click here to see him out of character
Played By: Robert Downey Jr.
Voiced by: Bernard Gabay (European French), Dafnis Fernández (Latin-American Spanish dub), Takuya Kirimoto (Japanese dub)

"I know who I am! I'm a dude playin' a dude, disguised as another dude!"

An immensely talented Australian method actor, Lazarus had a controversial "pigmentation alteration" surgery to darken his skin for his portrayal of the black character Sergeant Lincoln Osiris. Lazarus refuses to break character while filming and only speaks in his character's Black English.

  • Abusive Parents: His father was abusive and alcoholic, and in one of the spoof adverts, Lazarus believes that growing up in an abusive household helped him develop his skills as an actor.
    Kirk: Every day that I wake up, I thank my father for being an abusive alcoholic, telling me I was nothing, and that he was going to kill me, because it was that exact kind of environment, that I find makes great talent.
  • The Ace: By the start of the movie, he's one of the most acclaimed actors in the world and has built up a wide range of skills from all the years he's spent immersively preparing for roles.
  • All Asians Wear Conical Straw Hats: He ends up wearing one when he disguises himself as an Asian farmer.
  • Always Someone Better: Tugg's attempts at churning out a career-defining performance in Tropic Thunder are repeatedly undermined by Lazarus upstaging him.
  • Awesome Aussie: It's suggested that he keeps this attitude outside of the films.
  • Badass Boast: I'M A LEAD FARMER, MOTHERFUCKA!
  • Becoming the Mask: Kirk Lazarus will get so involved in his characters that he promises he won't break character 'til he's done the DVD Commentary. True to his word, Robert Downey Jr. does the film's DVD commentary in character as Kirk Lazarus.
    • He gets so into his character he has to be reminded at one point that he is Kirk Lazarus.
  • Berserk Button: The closest he comes to breaking character was when Alpa Chino starts mocking his Australian heritage.
  • Blackface: When acting as Lincoln Osiris. Played for horribly offensive hilarity but also Deconstructed as it leads to an actual black man getting offended and calling him out for taking the only major African-American role in the film.
  • Bond One-Liner: I'M A LEAD FARMER, MOTHERFUCKA!
  • Broken Ace: He is a talented actor who played in many Oscar Bait films and is a master at Method Acting. Yet, he believes his true self is a pathetic loser.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite going to extreme lengths to perform a role while acting, Kirk Lazarus is respected amongst his peers as an actor and is viewed as a great actor by many in the film industry and has won multiple Academy Awards for acting.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Him going to extreme lengths to perform his method acting shows that he is not completely sane.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Considering he spends almost all of the movie Lost in Character as a Scary Black Man, it's rather surprising that he is also one of the most consistently competent and levelheaded members of the group.
  • Dude, Not Funny!: His reaction to Alpa Chino taking mockery of his Australian heritage to the point of making fun of the Chamberlain case.
    Kirk: Y'know, that's a true story? Lady lost her kid. You 'bout to cross some fuckin' lines!
  • Gayngst: In Satan's Alley, he is a gay monk who struggles with his love for another monk in a monastery.
  • Guns Akimbo: Lazarus revealing his guns on the drug compound guards after his cover his blown attempting to sneak in.
  • Heroic BSoD: Kirk has a breakdown after Tugg convinces him that he's having an identity crisis while Kirk is trying to get Tugg to snap out of the role he's immersed in.
  • Ice-Cream Koan: When asked by Sandusky if he read the script, he responds with this:
    Kirk: I don't read the script, script reads me.
  • Innocently Insensitive: He's so committed to the idea of being Lost in Character that he genuinely doesn't realise how appallingly racist his interpretation of an African American man is.
  • Inopportune Impersonation Failure: Kirk disguises himself as a farmer in order to get onto the Big Bad's compound. The ruse almost works, until he mistakenly says he has a poppy farm when earlier in that same conversation he claimed to have a rice paddy.
  • The Lancer/Number Two: He seems to act as this when Tugg gets captured. Plus, they have meaningful stances on how to act for the movie, which leads to some disagreement between them.
  • Inelegant Blubbering: His attempt to cry at the beginning footage of the film is very overblown.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's infamous in the media for his reckless off-camera antics and sees no problem with doing Blackface for a role, but he offers Tugg constructive criticism for his critically reviled performance as Simple Jack (rather than punch him down for it as others do) and gives a sincere (though rightfully unaccepted) apology to Alpa when it finally sinks in to him that what he's doing is offensive. He's also clearly very happy to give Tugg an Academy Award at the end of the movie.
  • Large Ham: Kirk goes to... extremes.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
    • Is it Kirk Lazarus playing the dude disguised as another dude (Kirk Lazarus as Lincoln Osiris as lead-farming Indochinese infiltrator) or Robert Downey, Jr. (as all of the above)?
    • In real life, Robert has brown eyes. In the movie, Kirk Lazurus has blue eyes. Kirk had to put in brown colored contacts to play Osiris while Robert had to put in blue colored ones to play Kirk. In reality, Robert didn't need to put in colored contacts to play Osiris.
  • Lost in Character: This is a frequent problem for him. The result of playing Neil Armstrong found him "in an alley in Burbank trying to re-enter the earth's atmosphere in an old refrigerator box."
  • Magic Plastic Surgery: Kirk's transformation from white to black in itself is not that impressive. What's really impressive is that it "wears off" over time.
  • Malcolm Xerox: He tries to play into this type of characterisation with Osiris especially when talking to Alpa Chino.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Reportedly, his attitude is based on Russell Crowe, in his somewhat crazy behavior, Australian origin, and great level of talent. Meanwhile, his Lost in Character habits and nigh-psychotic method acting is based on Daniel Day-Lewis.
  • N-Word Privileges: Averted. When Alpa calls him a nigga, he slaps him in the face, and lectures him on the dangers of the use of the word.
  • Only Sane Man: Zigzagged. On the one hand Kirk, along with Sandusky, is the only actor with a measure of intelligence and common sense, and he takes command of the group after Tugg leaves. On the other hand his absolute refusal to break character makes it clear he has his own problems.
  • Oscar Bait: He seems to exclusively act in films that are pure Oscar Bait; Moonshot (a biography of Neil Armstrong), Satan's Alley (a heavy-handed Brokeback Mountain-esque film about gay monks) and others.
  • Pragmatic Pansexuality: Being the hardcore method actor he is, he is willing to go gay for a role, as he did when he was playing a gay monk.
  • Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: HERE'S MY MOTHERFUCKIN' FARM!
  • Precision F-Strike: He doesn't go overboard with cussing, but he always strikes some F words here and there.
  • Questionable Casting: This is more in-universe for the movie within the movie. Having a blond haired blue eyed Australian playing a black man?
    • The joke was even carried to his Oscar nomination, as Cuba Gooding Jr. cut off halfway through his praise of Downey's risk in taking the role with "What the hell were you thinking, man?"
  • Racial Transformation: He undergoes surgery that allows him to convincingly play a black character.
  • Russian Reversal: His Badass Boast.
    Kirk: I don't read the script, script reads me.
  • Scary Black Man: He tries to make Osiris come across as this.
  • Serious Business: Australia all the way, especially Crocodile Dundee and the woman whose baby got eaten by dingoes (which is not an urban myth, by the way).
    Alpa Chino: ...they had one good role for a black man, and they gave it to Crocodile Dundee!
    Kirk Lazarus: [stops smiling] Pump your brakes, kid, that man's a national treasure.
  • Shapeshifter Swan Song: Near the end of the movie, Lazarus briefly cycles through some of his previous roles before finally breaking character and assuming his own identity.
  • Soul Brotha:Kirk invokes this trope while playing Osiris being laid back at time and always ready to defend himself in action and he surprisingly can do it pretty well.
  • Suddenly Always Knew That:
    Portnoy: How the hell do you know Chinese?
    Lazarus: Land of Silk and Money with Gong Li. Second Globe, third Oscar. Prepped for that one by working in a Beijing textile factory for 8 months.
  • Tomato in the Mirror: When Tugg reminds him of who he is, he looks at himself in the mirror, breaks it and falls to the ground sobbing, shocked to realize he isn't the characters he played.
  • Uncle Tomfoolery: aside from the blackface, Kirk's performance as a black man is highly stereotypical, using slang incorrectly and quoting the themesong for The Jeffersons as an inspirational speech. In the opening scene, he also refers to Alpa Chino's Motown as "Detroit Jukebox Jheri Curl ass", when Jheri curl as a hairstyle wouldn't be invented until the 1980's, long after the Vietnam war.

    Jeff Portnoy 

Jeff Portnoy

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jeff_portnoy.jpg
Played By: Jack Black
Voiced by: Christian Strempler (Latin-American Spanish dub), Takeshi Maruyama (Japanese dub)

"Let me tell you something. A lot of people are disrespecting me. They say that the movie's just about farts. It's about family, and fuck you. You can't do what I do."

A drug-addicted comedian/actor well-known for portraying multiple parts in films that rely on Toilet Humor, particularly jokes about flatulence. In the film-within-a-film, he plays a raspy-voiced soldier named "Fats."

  • Acting for Two: In-Universe. The Fatties: Fart 2, a parody of The Nutty Professor, starring Jeff Portnoy, Jeff Portnoy, Jeff Portnoy, and Jeff Portnoy as America's favorite obese family.
  • Ass Shove: Portnoy hides a handgun up his rear during the climactic raid. He spends so long trying to pull it out that the action's already over by the time he finally manages.
  • Berserk Button: Would really like for everyone to stop laughing at him and his farts.
  • The Big Guy: As the fattest of the team and the Plucky Comic Relief, but he's easily the most physical of them: he manhandles the Big Bad and two of his goons and effortlessly carries a wounded Tugg.
  • Big "SHUT UP!": After getting tired of Sandusky's praise of Renny Harlin.
    Jeff: SHUT THE FUCK UP!
  • Butt-Monkey: Suffers more physical abuse than anyone else in the movie and tends to be ignored by the other characters.
  • Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: Jeff Portnoy is not in good shape when he finds out they're stumbling upon an opium farm.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: Implied why Portnoy joined the movie.
    "They only laugh at my farts!"
  • Dumb Blonde: He has blond hair and says/does some foolish things throughout the movie.
  • Freudian Excuse: It's implied that his chemical dependencies and confrontational behavior are partially born out of insecurity in his career, ashamed at the Toilet Humor that made him a household name compared to more respected actors like Speedman and Lazarus.
    • His biography on the now-defunct promotional website states that his drug addiction may have stemmed from having spent the first seven months of his life under heavy sedation in an incubator following a disastrous surgery to correct his birth defects.
  • Functional Addict: Barely, and it's pretty obvious.
  • Gasshole: The type of character he plays in his movies.
  • Hidden Depths: He's fully aware his comedy films are subpar Toilet Humor and hates that he's a laughing stock for them and his drug problems.
  • The Millstone: His withdrawal symptoms kick in at the worst time. Funnily enough, he's actually aware that he's this and preemptively demands to be tied to a tree before he makes things worse (which, of course, he does anyway).
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: A blonde, beloved, heavyset comedian with low self-esteem and drug addiction issues is reminiscent of Chris Farley, while his films (a whole lot of Vulgar Humor and Acting for Two) seem to reference the later career of Eddie Murphy.
  • No Matter How Much I Beg: One scene has Portnoy going through withdrawal, and he asks to be tied to a tree until he "gets it out of his system." He tells the others not to untie him, no matter how much he begs. Predictably, he does, even going as far as to promise recently outed Alpa Chino a blowjob.
  • Playing Against Type: In-Universe. He's a comedy actor who is cast in an action film.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: His role is one of the least serious. Comedy is his biggest purpose in the movie.
  • Sad Clown: He's mostly billed as an actor for light-hearted comedies, yet he seems to be the most miserable member of the cast. Especially when his "jellybeans" wear off.
  • Shirtless Scene: At one point in the movie. Fan Disservice, however.
  • Stout Strength: Fires an M60 while running, among other things.
  • Talkative Loon: As his "vitamins" and "jelly beans" wear off.
  • Toilet Humor: Most of his movies run on this.
    • Vulgar Humor: Jeff's usual fare. At a premiere, he tries to deliver a Take That, Critics! with regards to this, but drug-addled as he is, it isn't effective.
  • Trouser Space: With Jack Black's pistol, implied to have been up his bum. Played with, as it takes him until the end of the gunfight he's standing in the midst of to actually retrieve it.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Albeit the child leader of a criminal gang who spends several seconds attacking him first, but still.
  • Zany Scheme: Having seen it done in a Zany Sex Comedy he starred in, suggests a plan to infiltrate the camp using a giant catapult made from underwear. He gets stared at for five seconds before Kevin reaffirms a much saner plan, based on the book's own assault on a similar compound.

    Alpa Chino 

Alpa Chino

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alpa_chino.jpg
Played By: Brandon T. Jackson
Voiced by: Javier Olguín (Latin-American Spanish dub), Fuminori Komatsu (Japanese dub)

A rapper who is attempting to cross over into acting, portraying a soldier named "Motown," while promoting his "Bust-A-Nut" candy bar and energy drink "Booty Sweat."

  • Armored Closet Gay: He released a song called I Love Tha Pussy while in the closet. He's over-compensating a great deal, and if his reaction to Sandusky's reference to his girls is any indication, he seems to be getting tired of it. It's likely that he's come out by the end of the movie.
  • Ascended Fanboy: He said he watched the first Scorcher 20 times in 8th grade. Now he gets to act alongside the lead actor.
  • Brief Accent Imitation: Chino throws this on for Kirk Lazarus, who pisses him off with his ignorance, Uncle Tomfoolery and offensive portrayal of a black character as a stereotypical Scary Black Man.
    Lazarus: All right, fellas, we're gonna make camp, rest up. Y'all might be in for a treat. You know, back before the war broke out, I was a saucier in San Antone. I bet I could collar up some of them greens, yeah, some crawfish out the paddy, yo'! Ha! I'm makin' some crabapples for dessert now, yah! Hell yeah, ha!
    Alpa: [mocking Kirk] Hell yeah! Ha! That's how we all talk? We all talk like dis, "suh"? Yes suh, ha! Yeah mmm-hmm get some crawfish, and some ribs, ha! Ye-aah. [normal voice] You're Australian! Be Australian! Excuse me, Kangaroo Jack!
  • Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: The lyrics to his song I Love Tha Pussy reek of this. He outs himself later in the movie.
  • Hidden Depths: He actually donates millions from his "Booty Sweat" deal to his community and is a very profficient tailor, which demonstrates he isn't all glitter. He also has a thing for Lance.
  • Hypocritical Humor: He gets fed up with Lazarus' racist portrayal of a black man... and reels off every Aussie joke he can think of to him.
    • Also, Lazarus' particular use of "Hell yeah!" is what made Alpa call bullshit on him. This is the same expression he uses in the lyrics to his song.
  • Kayfabe Music: Seems to be more down-to-earth than his persona would indicate.
  • Named After Somebody Famous: In-Universe. Guess who he is referencing with his name.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Seems to channel elements of at the time-relevant rapper Soulja Boy. His promotion for "Booty Sweat" and "Busta Nut" also parallel the Vitamin Water ad campaign with rapper 50 Cent, who would also enter acting around the late 2000's.
  • Only Sane Man: A bit more subtle than Sandusky; as shown above, his main purpose in the plot is to call bullshit on Lazarus' blackface, but once he's actually on "set" and not acting in his capacity as a rap mogul, it becomes clear that he's fairly well-adjusted.
  • Product Placement: One of the biggest reasons he's in the movie is to "discreetly" sell his energy drink "Booty Sweat," which he would often pull out and start drinking during takes even though the film takes place decades before its release.
  • Saw "Star Wars" Twenty-Seven Times: Alpa Chino says he's seen Tugg Speedman's first Scorcher movie twenty-four times when he was in 8th Grade.
  • Screams Like a Little Girl: He does this when Tugg kicks Damien's decapitated head like a soccer ball.
  • Start X to Stop X: His idea of calling out Lazarus on a racist performance is to rapidly fire off racist remarks about Australians, including the old "dingo ate your baby" crack.
  • Stop Being Stereotypical: One of his main qualms with Lazarus' portrayal of a black man.
  • Straight Gay: You wouldn't know he's gay if he hadn't come out.
  • You Know I'm Black, Right?: Not only he plays it straight, he also inverts it for Lazarus.
    Kirk: [to Tugg] Huh? What do you mean you people?
    Alpa: [to Kirk] What do you mean you people?

    Kevin Sandusky 

Kevin Sandusky

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kevin_sandusky.jpg
Played By: Jay Baruchel
Voiced by: Víctor Ugarte (Latin-American Spanish dub), Noboru Yamaguchi (Japanese dub)

A respectful novice actor, he is the only cast member to have read the script and book, and attended the assigned boot camp before the film. Sandusky plays a young soldier named "Brooklyn" in the film-within-a-film.

  • Accidental Misnaming: He is victim from this a couple of times. Lazarus gets his last name wrong twice, and Tugg calls him "Kyle", instead of Kevin. Alpa calls him "Candisky" once as well. Tugg gets his name right at the end of the movie, however.
  • Ascended Fanboy: He reveals that he is a big fan of Kirk Lazarus, and that he was the reason Kevin got into acting on the first place. The two have lead roles on the movie.
  • Brooklyn Rage: Averted. Since he plays the young soldier "Brooklyn", it is suggested he comes from there, yet he is very timid and nice.
  • Forgettable Character: By virtue of being a rookie actor, no one on set can ever remember his name.
  • Hypercompetent Sidekick: As the only unknown among the five actors, he is naturally seen as a follower by the group, himself included. Despite this, he is also the only one with the knowledge and experience needed to actually survive their situation and is more often than not the one pulling them out of trouble. To his credit, Lazarus seems to recognize this early on and tries to get him to be in charge of reading the map, only for Tugg to refuse to hand it over.
  • Info Dump: Twice. He explains the split of the studios regarding DVD and Blu-Ray and later he praises Renny Harlin. Both times he is shut down.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Everyone else in the cast has traces of No Celebrities Were Harmed but with newcomer and up and coming actor Sandusky, its not hard to see that character as a stand in for Jay Baruchel himself.
  • Naïve Newcomer: Subverted. Though he has no prior acting experience, he knows more about the film and the situation than the other actors, since he's the only one who actually prepared for his role by reading the script and original book and going through the actors' boot camp.
  • Nice Guy: Generally tries his best to mediate between the group and shows admiration for what each of the other four have accomplished across their careers at various points. He isn't without his limits, however.
  • Only Sane Man: The only character in the movie who doesn't have any baggage as a person or an actor; he's basically a normal geek who got a part he auditioned for, nothing more.
  • The Smart Guy: He's arguably a Geek, and he is the one who creates the Wet Offensive infiltration on the enemy base.
  • Took a Level in Badass: He starts the movie as an in-over-his-head dirt-poor novice actor, and ends it with a successful enemy base infiltration and escape. Those two weeks of boot camp paid off, it seems.
  • Took the Bad Film Seriously:invoked He seems to be the only cast member who actually cares about his performance — for instance he's the only one who attended the actors boot camp and read the book it's based on.
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are: This is how he breaks Lazarus out of his self-loathing: by reminding him of how great he is, and that he is the reason Kevin decided to become an actor.

Crew

    Four Leaf Tayback 

John "Four Leaf" Tayback

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/four_leaf_9.jpg
Played By: Nick Nolte
Voiced by: Gabriel Pingarrón (Latin-American Spanish dub), Alain Dorval (European French), Kousei Hirota (Japanese dub)

The author of Tropic Thunder, a memoir of his war experiences on which the film-within-a-film is based. He suggests the idea of dropping the actors in the middle of the jungle to get them looking and feeling like soldiers lost in a foreign land.

  • The Atoner: He tells Cody to hand him the flamethrower during the climactic battle as way of making up for letting him down on account how his "memoir" was faked, while Cody goes and rigs up the explosive charges on the bridge.
  • Cowardly Lion: Despite being a liar who has no real combat experience, when push comes to shove he's completely willing to fight off a drug cartel with a flamethrower in order to save the actors.
  • Hook Hand: He has prosthetic hooks over both limbs. In truth, his hands are completely functional.
  • Obfuscating Disability: He never really lost his hands. It was all a part of his act as a phony veteran.
  • Phony Veteran: He wasn't an Army infantryman but rather did laundry in the Coast Guard, and weakly tries to claim he wrote the book as a 'tribute' to the real heroes.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: The book upon which Tropic Thunder is based is a memoir of his traumatic experiences in Vietnam. He sleeps out in a tent on the beach away from a hotel because of PTSD and is constantly shooting off gravelly-voiced one-liners about being a man or experiencing war or something similar. Averted; he's faking it all.
  • Walking Spoiler: The fact that the man is a fraud is a pretty major reveal.

    Damien Cockburn 

Damien Cockburn

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/damien_cockburn.jpg
Played By: Steve Coogan
Voiced by: Ricardo Tejedo (Latin-American Spanish dub), Hisashi Izumi (Japanese dub)

The inexperienced British film director who is unable to control the actors in the film.

  • A Day in the Limelight: He's the main focus of the mockumentary Rain of Madness which reveals his history as an acclaimed Broadway director who was in way over his head when he bought the film rights to Tropic Thunder, not realizing that directing a big budget Hollywood war movie would be a very different experience compared to a stage play. Throughout the experience he suffered increasing Sanity Slippage thanks to a combination of Les Grossman's interference, the main actors' various problems, and his own denial that everything was not a disaster.
  • All Part of the Show: Nope. Tugg Speedman thinks his death was an act, but it was real.
  • Blasphemous Boast: Right before getting blown to bits after stepping on a land mine.
    This radio goes to the chopper and the chopper only! The chopper is God! And I am Jesus Christ, His son! And you are my chosen disciples!
  • Butt-Monkey: Dear God. He can't control his actors, his movie goes way over budget in little time, he is punched in the face at the request of Les Grossman and he steps on a landmine and gets blown up.
  • Character Death: He's killed by a land mine shortly into the movie.
  • Ludicrous Gibs: He steps on a land mine and gets blown to pieces.
  • Prima Donna Director: Inverted; it's the actors who are the prima donnas, and he's unable to control them.
  • Sacrificial Lion: As the beleaguered director of the movie in a movie, he gets a lot of screentime and a decently Rousing Speech in before he's gruesomely killed.
  • Walking Spoiler: By virtue of the fact that he doesn't last long in the movie despite what the initial setup would imply.

    Cody Underwood 

Cody Underwood

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cody_underwood.jpg
Played By: Danny McBride
Voiced by: Andrés García (Latin-American Spanish dub), Tomoyuki Shimura (Japanese dub)

The film's explosives expert and helicopter pilot. He is a pyromaniac.

The Studio

    Les Grossman 

Les Grossman

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/les_grossman.jpg
Played By: Tom Cruise
Voiced by: Jorge Ornelas (Latin-American Spanish dub), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese dub)

The foul-mouthed, hot-headed studio executive producing Tropic Thunder.

  • Badass Boast: His speech to Flaming Dragon is this.
    Grossman: Oh, okay. Flaming Dragon. Fuckface. First, why don't you take a big step back and literally FUCK YOUR OWN FACE?! I don't know what kind of pan-Pacific power play you're trying to pull here, but Asia, jack, is my territory. So whatever you're thinking, you better think again because otherwise I'm gonna have to head down there and rain down an ungodly fuckin' firestorm upon you! You're gonna have to get the fuckin' United Nations to sign a fuckin' binding resolution to keep me from utterly destroying you! I am talking scorched earth, motherfucker! I will massacre you! I WILL FUCK YOU UP!!!
  • Bad Boss: He has no problem verbally abusing, cussing, and hitting his crew and employees. He's also willing to leave Tugg Speedman to die and collect his life insurance policy.
  • Bait the Dog: His sudden, serious change in demeanor upon meeting Four-Leaf Tayback seemingly indicates he might not be all that bad a person deep down. However, it doesn't last.
    Grossman: Oh, wow. You're a great American. This nation owes you a huge debt. Now SHUT THE FUCK UP and let me do my job!!!
  • Bald of Evil: It's Tom Cruise wearing a bald cap and being one greedy, disgusting asshole.
  • Bavarian Fire Drill: He couldn't possibly pull off most of the stuff he claims he is capable of in his rant, but it is delivered with so much conviction that it seems to work!
  • Beard of Evil: More like a Perma-Stubble of greedy jerkassery.
  • Beauty Inversion: Tom Cruise had to wear a baldcap, a fatsuit and some large prosthetic hands to play this guy.
  • Brutal Honesty: When Pecker asked him if he was bribing him into betraying his best friend Speedman, Grossman replies with a frank, flat "yes".
  • Chewing the Scenery: It's Tom Cruise in a fat suit and bald mask cutting loose.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: He really likes this trope, which is best shown in his Badass Boast.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: He is an executive producer, yet he doesn't care one bit about the safety of the actors, being only concerned with how much money he can make.
  • Dance Party Ending: Tom Cruise performs a one-man Dance Party Ending over the credits.
  • Deadpan Snarker: He can make some snarky comments here and there.
  • Disproportionate Retribution:
    • He has director Cockburn brutally punched in the face by the key-grip because of the former's incompetence.
    • He also threatened to rip off secretary Helen's breast because she didn't have his staples.
  • Establishing Character Moment: His first scene in the movie has him chewing out Cockburn for his failures, ordering a man to punch him in the face and telling Tayback to shut up.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He brings up his wedding ring, which shows he is married. Whether he is Happily Married is anyone's guess.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He tries enticing Peck to abandon Speedman to his death (and without his TiVo) by promising him lots of money and a G-5 airplane. It never crosses his mind (or he just doesn't care) that Peck would take the money and the G-5… to purchase the TiVo and go rescue Speedman.
  • Evil Is Hammy: Each of his asshole speeches are wonderfully over-the-top.
  • Fat Bastard: Grossman is a big, fat Jerkass.
  • Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Never seen without his glasses, except at the end.
  • Greedy Jew: He has a Jewish-sounding last name and is one greedy bastard. He also refers to a Jewish holiday, Shushan Purim, at one point, so it's not so much implied as it is hammered down your throats without explicitly stating it.
    Grossman: Let's face it, the kids aren't exactly dressing up as The Scorcher for Purim anymore.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: He's an aggressive, moody and temperamental Bad Boss.
  • Hidden Depths: He was blessed by the Pope at one point and apparently celebrated Purim. Implying that underneath his greed and bluster, he is a pretty spiritual guy in his private life.
  • Hot-Blooded: He flies off the handle at the slightest provocation. He will vacillate between roaring inventive profanity at the top of his lungs and calmly taking care of business.
  • Jerkass: Big time. He insults everyone and is only concerned with making money.
  • Karma Houdini: Never suffers any punishment for his actions, specifically leaving Speedman to die at the hands of the Flaming Dragon. By the end, his movie makes $400 million at the box office, wins several awards, and he gets credited for reviving Speedman's career.
  • Large Ham: His rant to Flaming Dragon definitely qualifies him, but Les dominates pretty much every scene he's in.
  • Laughably Evil: While he's not really evil, he is a greedy and arrogant Jerkass who is perfectly fine with letting an actor die at the hands of a drug cartel. That said, he's so unbelievably hammy and over the top that it's impossible to actually hate him.
  • Meaningful Name: Grossman.
    • His personality throughout the movie lives up to his name.
    • "Gross" also references "box office gross," which is fitting for a movie studio executive.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed:
    • It's speculated that Tom Cruise modeled his performance on Harvey Weinstein (whom Cruise allegedly had a low opinion of after their negotiations broke down over Weinstein trying to court him for the film Cold Mountain) - according to Ben Stiller, it was Cruise's idea to include a "gross" studio head as the secondary villain, and his physical appearance (big, fat, hairy, balding) as well as his hot temper, foul mouth, general obnoxious attitude and terrible treatment of his employees are all reminiscent of Weinstein's behaviour (Weinstein was also known for loving diet coke). Considering what Weinstein is mostly known for these days, it's almost a relief that Les wasn't a lot worse.
    • Grossman's violent temper is also heavily reminiscent of Scott Rudin, whom physically resembles Grossman even more than Weinstein.
  • Only in It for the Money:
    • He wants to make a movie so he gets lots of money. He doesn't care one bit if the lead actor is kidnapped and can be killed.
    • When Pecker calls him out on the fact that he gave permission to the Flaming Dragon Gang to brutally murder Speedman, Grossman retorts that Speedman's career ended long ago, and when the death of Speedman leaks out, Grossman says he will start an acting program in Speedman's name, which will attract the attention, and money, of future investors.
  • Pet the Dog: His last scene with Rob.
  • Sir Swears-a-Lot: Quite possibly the king of this trope, alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Malcolm Tucker. Let's just say he's VERY fond of tossing out F-bombs.
  • Smug Snake: Subverted. He is massively full of himself, yet it never backfires on him.
  • Suddenly Shouting: Not only in his rant to the Flaming Dragons, but he does that in some early scenes as well.
  • Take That!: Reportedly Cruise based the actions and dialogue of this character off real life Paramount Studios executive Sumner Redstone, who had a falling out with Cruise two years earlier when he terminated the actor's contract prematurely.
  • Token Evil Teammate: Given that he is part of the making of the movie, he could be counted as a member of the team. Yet, most tropes above should explain why he qualifies for this.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: In his office, you can see a Forbes magazine with him on the cover and another photo shows him being blessed by the Pope. Interestingly enough, it says that he doesn't like actors or agents. Only money and power. And he has both. He actually invokes this trope at one point when he admits that he is perfectly happy to let Tug Speedman be brutally murdered by Asian drug peddlers but claims that they "will weep for him... in the press".
  • Would Hit a Girl: He threatens to rip off secretary Helen's breasts because she didn't have staples that he wanted.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He decides to abandon Tugg to the Flaming Dragons on the basis that he's no longer a profitable actor and that his death could be easily exploited for PR and profit via insurance fraud.

    Rick 'Pecker' Peck 

Rick "Pecker" Peck

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/matthew_mcconaughey_in_tropic_thunder_matthew_mcconaughey_29525832_500_281.jpg
Played By: Matthew McConaughey
Voiced by: Óscar Flores (Latin-American Spanish dub), Junpei Morita (Japanese dub)

Tugg Speedman's extremely devoted agent and best friend.

  • All Men Are Perverts: In one scene, you can see him reading a book full of pictures of topless women.
  • Ambiguously Bi: He shows some lecherous traits about women, but he's also extremely loyal to Tugg and his ringtone for Tugg's number is the love song "Sometimes When We Touch".
  • Chekhov's Gun: The TiVo. It is used as target to the rocket that would blow up the helicopter in which the film crew was escaping on.
  • Crazy-Prepared: When he thinks Speedman has killed a prostitute (actually a panda), he immediately begins instructing him on the proper way to dispose of a corpse. We don't hear all of it, but it involves a bathtub and "a shitload of lye."
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Speedman, if their interactions are anything to go by.
  • Nice Guy: While he is slightly perverted, he is otherwise a rather decent guy and especially loyal to Speedman.
  • Office Golf: Takes this in a trendier direction with Office Wii Tennis.
  • Serious Business: He is determined to get Tugg his TiVo even when Tugg himself isn't the least bit concerned about it, and even takes the device with him to a hostage rescue.
  • Take a Third Option: He uses the money and the G5 offered by Grossman to save Speedman from the Flaming Dragon.
  • Undying Loyalty: Double Subverted towards Tugg. At first, it looks like Pecker ditched his friend for a G5. Then he uses the plane to rescue him, playing the trope straight.

    Rob Slolom 

Rob Slolom

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bill_hader_08.jpg
Played By: Bill Hader
Voiced by: Kaihiamal Martínez (Latin-American Spanish dub),

Assistant and right-hand man to Les Grossman.

Flaming Dragon

    Tran 

Tran

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tran_tropic_thunder.jpg
Played By: Brandon Soo Hoo
Voiced by: Bruno Coronel (Latin-American Spanish dub), Fujiko Takimoto (Japanese dub)

The young leader of the Flaming Dragon gang.

    Byong 

Byong

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flaming_dragon_byong.jpg
Played By: Reggie Lee
Voiced by: Ricardo Mendoza (Latin-American Spanish dub)

The second-in-command of the Flaming Dragon gang.

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