I've already marked "Tropic Thunder" as one of my must see flicks for 2008. Judging by the cast (Ben Stiller stars alongside Owen Wilson, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., and Nick Nolte among others) and concept of his latest effort, I'm highly optimistic.
Justin Theroux, currently promoting his own directing debut "Dedication" told me all about how he and Stiller hatched the idea for the flick (Theroux is a co-writer and actor in it). He recalled, "We were watching a war [movie] DVD and there were actors talking about the boot camp they did and how it was intense. So we thought, wouldn’t it be funny if we did a movie about a bunch of actors who came back from a boot camp for a war movie and they had post traumatic stress disorder. That was the germ of the joke. And then it went from there to being a bunch of actors going to make the biggest budget war movie and getting lost in the jungle. And they end up fighting an unseen enemy and thinking they’re fighting a real war."
I asked Theroux, who's in the middle of the "Tropic Thunder" shoot right now, point blank about the most intriguing casting rumor associated with the film. Will Tom Cruise make an appearance? "I think so," he responded.
Cruise is rumored to be playing a studio head in the flick. Theroux went on to hedge his bets saying "I don't know. We'll see. It may happen. It may not happen." But his first unguarded response spoke volumes. My money's on a Cruise appearance.
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