Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. have both been integral to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, establishing their roles as Electro and Iron Man. The two have been in some integral movies that have gotten them a lot of fame and respect throughout the Hollywood industry. While both have done a lot of roles and are the epitome of talented legends, they haven’t been seen together on screen as often. The two worked together on The Soloist but that was their only released flick together.
Both Foxx and Downey had worked on another project together. Namely, All-Star Weekend. The movie was never released due to several reasons, the main one being that the Django Unchained actor chose not to release the movie at all. His decision was confusing at first until he opened up about just why that was necessary.
Jamie Foxx Was Ready For Robert Downey Jr. To Do More Offensive Roles
Robert Downey Jr. did two of his most remembered roles in 2008. Two movies that completely showed the actor in the most unique manner were Iron Man and Tropic Thunder. The former got him the utmost fame, marking his character to be one of the most iconic superheroes. The latter got him an Oscar nomination. However, it also led to a lot of controversies.
“It’s been tough with the lay of the land when it comes to comedy,” the actor added. “We’re trying to break open the sensitive corners where people go back to laughing again… We hope to keep them laughing and run them right into All-Star Weekend because we were definitely going for it.”
Downey played Kirk Lazarus who was a character he had to enact in blackface. While his acting had been incredible, the role itself was highly offensive and the public was not okay with it. The movie was an action comedy that was purely mocking a lot of concepts. He played an African-American and the role was heavily criticized.
Much to everyone’s surprise, Jamie Foxx picked up on the satire that they were trying to go for. He was happy to see such jokes being made and for even a minute audience to appreciate it and because of that, All-Star Weekend.
Jamie Foxx Made Robert Downey Jr. Play A Mexican Role
Jamie Foxx called up Robert Downey Jr., stating that he supported a lot of such movies and humor that would otherwise be very controversial. He is open to other actors being able to play roles like such, where humor has no boundaries.
“I called Robert, I said, ‘I need you to play a Mexican.’” He continued when the actor asked more questions. “I said, ‘S**t, you played the Black dude [in Tropic Thunder] and you killed that s**t.’”
Foxx chose to never release the movie because, in developing times, humor has changed. Things can be heavily offensive and people can be canceled in an instant. So he did not want to risk any of that, choosing to instead shelf the movie altogether. However, he stated that in the movie, Robert Downey Jr.’s role was far more offensive than anything he did in Tropic Thunder.
Source: LAD Bible
