As a gamer with a penchant for movies and a soft spot for Jack Black’s comedic antics, I can wholeheartedly say that Tropic Thunder is one rollercoaster ride of an R-rated comedy. The movie, available on Paramount+, showcases the usual suspects swearing, shooting, and going through harrowing jungles – all in the name of art.
Despite not being explicitly labeled as an R-rated comedy, I’d argue that “Tropic Thunder” certainly fits the bill. This 2008 film, available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription, centers around a troupe of actors who find themselves stranded in the Vietnam jungle while filming a movie about the Vietnam War. The dialogue is peppered with profanity, there’s plenty of violence and gunfire, and Jack Black’s character, Jeff Portnoy, goes through a harrowing drug withdrawal after his stash of “jelly beans” is taken by a bat. In one particularly memorable scene, he ends up tied to a water buffalo. Interestingly, the use of a real water buffalo during filming led to Black walking off the set of “Tropic Thunder”, but fortunately, this tale concludes on an uplifting note.
Jack Black narrated an incident involving a water buffalo during his guest spot on ‘Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend’. After Conan shared his tale about riding a water buffalo for his TBS show, falling off, and getting a hematoma, Jack revealed that he too had encountered this situation while filming ‘Tropic Thunder’ in Kaua’i, Hawaii. The former ‘School of Rock’ star admitted his fear of animals, which made him apprehensive about being placed on the water buffalo for a scene. He added:
I was told everything was fine, so I got down from it, expecting to turn a corner on this mountain trail in just my underwear. Since I was dealing with withdrawal symptoms, I was sweating profusely and the buffalo seemed uneasy too. As soon as they yelled “Action!”, we began moving, and I felt a sense of uncertainty. It appeared the buffalo might have sensed my fear because it started bucking wildly. I screamed and tumbled off, doing a somersault in mid-air before landing surprisingly safe between two rocks without any injuries. Since we hadn’t yet come into view, there’s no footage of this incident.
In a more detailed explanation, Jeff Portnoy was tied to a water buffalo not only due to drug withdrawal, but as part of an act where he pretended to be the captive of Robert Downey Jr.’s character Kirk Lazarus. Kirk Lazarus had disguised himself as a rice paddy farmer in order to gain access to the Flaming Dragon heroin factory and save Ben Stiller’s character Tugg Speedman. Unfortunately, the script for the movie Tropic Thunder didn’t include the water buffalo tossing Portnoy off, so it’s lucky that Jack Black fell in a way he did or he could have been seriously hurt. After regaining his senses, Black understandably became upset, as you can see from what follows below, and I can certainly understand why.
In a different phraseology, here’s how the sentence could be rewritten: Ben Stiller called out from afar, asking, “What’s happening? Are we stopping? Jack, start over! We didn’t catch anything.” I responded, “Not me, start over! Climb onto that buffalo!” Due to the surge of adrenaline coursing through my veins, I felt like I had seen my life flash before my eyes. Subsequently, I left for my trailer, feeling shaken and no longer in the mood to continue filming.
In the heat of the game, I found myself unable to perform some challenging stunts. That’s when Jimmy Waitman, my stand-in, courageously took over and climbed aboard a water buffalo for the remaining scenes to be filmed. However, there was an unexpected turn of events: it wasn’t rage that caused the buffalo to dislodge me. As Jack Black himself put it, the animal reacted in a certain way due to reasons we didn’t initially understand.
I don’t remember how long after that event took place, someone said, ‘Jack, you know what we found out? That water buffalo was pregnant. No one knew it had a baby inside it, and that’s why it was freaking out, because it was uncomfortable.’ And I was like, ‘Fuck me, man, there’s gotta be a way they should know that before they put me on the back of a gigantic power beast.’ And then at the premiere, someone was there that said, ‘You know what they named the baby? Named him Jack.’
Isn’t it sweet? I concur with Jack Black that it would have been considerate if the animal trainers had known the water buffalo was pregnant, but at least they named one after him. Does that compensate for what he endured? Not in Conan O’Brien’s opinion, but Black concluded that episode by expressing his desire to meet Jack the Water Buffalo.
As a long-time fan of Jack Black and Tom Cruise’s comedic roles, I’m thrilled to hear that Jack Black’s latest film, “Borderlands,” is set for release in 2024. I can hardly wait to see him on the big screen again! And it looks like we’ll get another dose of Jack’s humor next year when he co-stars with Jason Momoa in “Minecraft.”
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2024-08-09 05:37