Jack Black's Bloody Arm On the Set of Ben Stiller's New Movie Tropic Thunder (Not Co-Starring Owen Wilson)

Since the winds have died down and firefighters seem to be gaining an edge on the catastrophic wildfires (at least in L.A. County), we can now return to our regularly scheduled programming here in the Land of Make Believe. The photo above is about as much as I was allowed to photograph while visiting the set of Tropic Thunder, Ben Stiller's war-movie-parody-blockbuster for Summer 2008 . Most of the film was shot on the island of Kauai where we went on vacation this past July. It is also the Hawaiian island where many celebs frolic and Mr. Stiller has a second home. He told us the island often conjured up images of Vietnam which inspired the script (co-written by the talented Justin Theroux and Ethan Cohen who helped pen Mike Judge's genius movie Idiocracy).

I got a copy of that script, which I was only given under the condition I keep it's precious contents a secret. (Good thing I read it on Secret Beach!) I will say it is incredibly hilarious, incredibly smart and destined to be R-rated. We were told Tropic Thunder is the most expensive comedy ever made, which must be making the studio suits sweat bullets. They should relax. This is a movie that every male aged 18-to-34-year-old is going to see many times over. I think. Maybe. Who knows? If I did I'd be writing this from my second home in Kauai.

We were lucky enough to gain access to star Jack Black because we knew him way back in his Actor's Gang days (I saw one of the first performances of Tenacious D, which was a much more theatrical outing than their later incarnations as a full-on band and perhaps one of the funniest shows I've ever seen.) We also know Jeff Mann who is the production designer for the film. Jeff can be seen in the photo below standing proudly in front of some of his handiwork. All those grasses and palm trees were brought in and art-directed to look just so. They also brought in an array of military equiptment plus a Vietnamese water buffalo to ensure verisimilitude. Hollywood doing what it does best with the big bucks. Jeff told us that the final shot at that location would be one of a fighter jet napalming the entire "set." Really sorry we missed that.

It was all working to perfect effect the day we were there. Jack was playing a Chris Farley-meets-Tom Sizemore grunt who had to jump into an Apache helicopter as it was lifting off amid many explosions. They handed out earplugs to everyone and the multiple cameramen were all wearing those face shields like the one Princess Diana wore when walking through the Angola mine fields. I thought they were overreacting a bit until Ben (who directs the film as well as stars in it) yelled "Action!" The collective sound of the explosions, the blanks being fired from all the M-16s, the monster crane lifting the helicopter off to simulate flight and Mr. Black's Sizemore-esque bellowing was deafening.

We later were shown an assembly of the film's opening which featured Mr. Stiller (pumped up beyond belief!) reenacting Willem DaFoe's death scene from Platoon. I had to apologize for laughing so hard. Shot by John Toll (the cinematographer who won an Oscar for Braveheart), the sequence is breathtakingly beautiful. It looks exactly like something from Apocalypse Now... with some very, very funny riffs on Platoon as well as every other war movie ever made. Ben's character is a big spoiled action star desperate for a hit to boost his sagging career. Co-star Rober Downey, Jr, who showed off some impressive stunt work in the rushes we saw, plays a super-serious, ultra-intense Irsh actor (a la Daniel Day-Lewis) who takes Method Acting to questionable lengths.

Also appearing in the movie are Nick Nolte (as a grizzled Vietnam vet with a secret), Steve Coogan (as the poncey British theater director cluelessly making his first Hollywood film) and maybe Tom Cruise in a cameo. All perfectly cast -- down to Cruise, who may not be recognizable in the role he is rumored to be playing. It's a shame Owen Wilson can't be in it. It's hard for me to imagine anyone else playing his part. Although I suppose Matthew McConaughey will make a splendid super-slick, if slightly sleazy, Hollywood agent. (Is there any other kind?)

I really am looking forward to seeing this movie. It makes mincemeat of Hollywood narcissism and, if nothing else, the first ten minutes will quite literally blow you away.