While Tom Cruise is venturing to multiple premieres of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One around the globe, the Top Gun: Maverick star also expressed interest in returning to another of his beloved characters — Les Grossman from the comedy Tropic Thunder. It was thrown around that maybe there would be a spin-off with Grossman and Tom taking centerstage. Nothing has manifested so far, and Ben Stiller is recently finding new success with his AppleTV Original series, Severance.
One person who would love to return to the Tropic Thunder world is Robert Downey Jr. Downey unapologetically played the method actor Kirk Lazarus, who satirically and controversially donned blackface, which has now seemingly reached the point of retroactive criticism. Ben Stiller, who directed Tropic Thunder, stands by its irreverence and will not apologize in favor of “cancel culture.” It looks like Downey Jr. is game to make a sequel as the former Iron Man star reacts to Tom Cruise’s desire to reprise his role. In an interview with ExtraTV, Downey is inquired about his interest and according to CBR.com, he responded, “That’s kind of a yes, and then we will figure out what the title is.”
Even if a sequel isn’t meant to be, Downey expressed wanting to work with Cruise regardless. The two have never crossed paths on-screen despite being young stars in the 80s. Cruise did have the opportunity to play Les Grossman outside of the movie when he donned the heavy prosthetics for the MTV Movie Awards. “I did Les Grossman for the MTV Awards … We’ll have to see. That could be fun.” Cruise is a workaholic, so he will have to wait until his schedule permits room for this project, “I really don’t know, at this moment. I gotta finish [the Mission: Impossible sequels], you know what I mean? I’m gonna put all my Mission stuff away for a moment to just breathe tonight.”
Downey Jr. has responded to the critics of the nature of his role when he said, “90 percent of my black friends were like, ‘Dude, that was great.’ I can’t disagree with [the other 10 percent], but I know where my heart lies. I think that it’s never an excuse to do something that’s out of place and out of its time, but to me it blasted the cap on [the issue]. I think having a moral psychology is job one. Sometimes, you just gotta go, ‘Yeah I effed up.’ In my defense, ‘Tropic Thunder’ is about how wrong [blackface] is, so I take exception.” Although, if a sequel does happen, it would probably be planned that Kirk Lazarus would try a new extreme method for the next go-around.