Jack Black names the one actor who transcends cinema: “He is amazing”
Jack Black isn’t the jealous type. When he sees a fellow actor out-perform him, he’s more than happy to give credit where credit is due. Over the years, he’s worked with some of the very best, including Kate Winslet, Shirley MacLaine, Joaquin Phoenix, and Cate Blanchett. He’s even done voice acting alongside Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman.
Black has often heaped praise on his fellow actors, saying, for example, that Winslet, who played his love interest in the beloved rom-com The Holiday, was “a pro on another level,” and identifying Christopher Walken and Gene Wilder as his heroes, saying he’s tried to emulate their unpredictability on screen.
Before you assume that he’s just one of those people who has nothing bad to say about anyone, Black has also been refreshingly open about the actors who made an impression in an unpleasant way. Specifically, he described Sean Penn as “a fucking freak” and someone who was a loose cannon on set. True to his loveable reputation, however, Black was quick to clarify that as a performer, Penn was on a whole other level of prowess.
All these superlatives aside, there is, as far as we know, just one actor who Black has described as transcendent. During a 2008 interview with Female for the release of Kung Fu Panda, the actor discussed his experience working with Robert Downey Jr. on Ben Stiller’s showbiz satire Tropic Thunder and revealed that there really is nobody like him.
“Oh man, he is amazing,” Black enthused. “His performance is transcendent. I am just a clown but he is a real actor… He’s awfully good.”
Tropic Thunder is a very specific parody of action movies about the Vietnam War. Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, and Platoon are all no-holds-barred sagas about one of the most gruesome and senseless conflicts in modern times, and many of them were harrowing to shoot. Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now is notorious for its shambolic production, with the director insisting on filming increasingly dangerous and chaotic scenes on location in the jungle.
In Stiller’s film, a group of actors who take themselves way too seriously are dropped in the middle of the jungle by their exasperated director, only to find themselves alone and in a very real combat situation.
Downey’s performance as one of the prima-donna actors caused some controversy since his character is an overly committed method actor who wears blackface throughout the film and speaks with an exaggerated, stereotyped accent. The film is mocking actors who take method acting several 1000 miles too far, but the very act of putting Downey in blackface was a questionable move, even by 2008 standards.
Others found his performance to be one of the best of the year. In the greatest moment of Tropic Thunder-related irony, Downey was nominated for an Academy Award for the movie, proving his character in the film to be correct: the harder you get into character (no matter the collateral damage), the more likely you are to get an Oscar. For what it’s worth, Black’s performance in the film as a comedian with a substance abuse problem is just as hilarious as Downey’s performance and has aged significantly better.
