With both British-German and Russian-Jewish heritage from his grandparents, it is wondered whether this strong connection to countries that were heavily affected by World War II would inspire actor, Jack Black, to join the military.
Although the ‘School of Rock’ actor has roots in nations that were entrenched in the second World War, the actor is not believed to have spent any time in the military but did in fact star in the film, Tropic Thunder about the Vietnam War.
Read more below about Jack Black’s role in ‘Tropic Thunder’.
A War Parody
Jack Black, best known for his roles in ‘School of Rock’ and ‘Shallow Hal’ also starred in the ‘film within a film’, ‘Tropic Thunder’ about a group of actors starring in a film about the Vietnam War.
‘Tropic Thunder’, written by Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen is a parody of many well known war films and is about a group of Hollywood actors, dropped into a jungle where they must use their acting skills to navigate danger.
Black plays ‘Jeff Portnoy’, a comedian struggling with drug addiction. In an interview with CBS, Black recalls a particular scene where he had to ride a buffalo.
Commenting on the scene he remarked “I was filled with dread about the water buffalo scenes.” “I have to be strapped to the back of it in my underpants for a few scenes.” “Being in physical peril, I will do almost anything for a laugh, but I don’t want to die.”
You can watch Jack Black talk about his role of ‘Tropic Thunder’ on YouTube here:
Not Signing Up Yet
In the same interview, Black explains that the movie was filmed in Kauai, Hawaii as the terrain there is similar to that of Vietnam.
Black did not embrace method acting for the role and was a little disappointed when he was given the largest gun out of all the actors.
Complaining about the large prop he said: “I was given the biggest gun, and I was a little bummed about that, because I thought why am I carrying around a 40 pound gun, because once you get saddled with a prop at the beginning of a movie, you know you’re going to be in charge of that thing for months and months.”
From the sound of it, Black would not enjoy a career in the military. He also injured himself on the gun he was loathed to carry around: “I did bruise a rib, I was running with my big pig gun and I dove into a foxhole and I landed funny on the gun.”
A Box Office Success
‘Tropic Thunder’ was a great success and grossed more than $188 million worldwide.
Promotion of the film was immense and co stars, Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr and Jack Black visited Camp Pendleton, a U.S Marine Corps base in California to present a screening of the film to military personnel and their families in August, 2008.
The screening was in association with United Services Organizations, a charity responsible for bringing entertainment to US troops. The stars of the movie attended the screening in helicopters and Humvees.
‘Tropic Thunder’ received many award nominations including Golden Globes Best Supporting Actor for both Robert Downey Jr and Tom Cruise, who also appears in the film. Downey Jr also received Best Supporting Actor nominations from The Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA.
Jack Black’s role in the film did not inspire him to pursue more war based characters and since its release in 2008, he has starred in ‘Gulliver’s Travels’, ‘Bernie’ and ‘Goosebumps’ as well as continuing to voice the character of Po in the ‘Kung Fu Panda’ franchise, which is apparently his favourite role to date.
Watch the ‘Tropic Thunder’ official trailer on YouTube below.