History Trivia / TropicThunder

-->'''Cruise:''' "I said, "Do you mind, Ben? I wanna play this character," I said. "I wanna have fat hands, and I wanna dance."

** Creator/TomCruise, who main roles alternate between action films and dramas, with him playing either a badass hero or a heartthrob of sorts, plays a foulmouthed, balding, morally ambiguous film producer in a satirical comedy.

** Robert Downey Jr. came up with Sergeant Osiris's voice on his own, and suggested Kirk Lazarus be changed from an acclaimed Irish actor to an Australian because he had already done an Australian accent for ''Film/NaturalBornKillers'' and could improvise better in it. Lazarus's penchant for remaining in character between takes and off the set was also copied from RDJ.

** When Stiller got the main role, the joke was changed to the agent being played by a bigger Hollywood star. Stiller offered the part to Tom Cruise, but he suggested adding the producer, Les Grossman, and playing him instead. Creator/OwenWilson was cast as Peck, but he dropped out to seek treatment after his suicide attempt in late 2007, and Matthew McConaughey was cast instead.

* TheOtherMarty: Creator/OwenWilson was originally set to play Tugg Speedman's agent, Rick Peck, but after his suicide attempt, he understandably backed out of the role. The role ended up going to Creator/MatthewMcConaughey.

** When Stiller got the main role, the joke was changed to the agent being played by a bigger Hollywood star. Stiller offered the part to Tom Cruise, but he suggested adding the producer, Les Grossman, and playing him instead. Creator/OwenWilson was cast as Peck, but he dropped out to seek treatment after his suicide attempt in late 2007.

** Peck was supposed to be played by Creator/OwenWilson but he dropped out to seek treatment after his suicide attempt in late 2007.
** Creator/KeanuReeves was originally supposed to play Tugg, poking fun at the criticisms of [[DullSurprise his own inability to emote]].

* ActorInspiredElement: The character of Les Grossman was entirely of Tom Cruise's creation. Originally, he was to cameo as Speedman's agent, Rick Pecker, but Cruise instead suggested that he play a foulmouthed studio executive. Both he and Ben Stiller worked on developing the character, with Cruise specifically suggesting Grossman having large hands and dancing (Though Stiller used Music/FloRida's "Low" as background music after that scene was recorded.) Cruise summed it up quite succinctly [[https://youtu.be/Sa-ch8H_5DE in a 2017 interview on BBC Radio 1]]:

** Some improvisation was used for the real film's dialogue -- in fact, Kirk was written as ''Irish'', but Creator/RobertDowneyJr found it easier to improvise with an Australian accent ([[Administrivia/TropesAreTools which helped make his "white man acting as a black man" set-up more ridiculous]], considering the stereotype about all Aussies seeming to be fair-haired).

* InspirationForTheWork: Creator/BenStiller got the idea for the film while working on ''Film/EmpireOfTheSun''. A few actors were getting cast in war movies and compare it to boot camp, prompting Stiller to wonder what would really happen if actors were in a warzone.