The Circuit

by John Hopewell and Team Variety
Robert Downey Jr. is in trouble again. The crime? An insatiable sense of humor.  He’s unlikely, however, to go down by law on this one.

The scene of Downey’s contratemps was a press conference Saturday evening after the San Sebastian screening of “Tropic Thunder.”

Pic wowed the audience, suggesting Paramount has a big hit straight out of the gate as a newly standalone distribution op in Spain.

And Downey and Stiller were in no mood to let the comedy end with the film.  Their press conference was great fun sit-down comedy, with a straight-guy producer Stuart Cornfield, Stiller’s production partner at Red Hour Films, looking bemusedly on.

Much of Downey’s shtick turned on his faux reproach to Stiller that Sean Penn had been the first choice for his part. Stiller of course played this up. 

Stiller on casting, beginning reverantly: "For the role which Robert plays in the movie, it’s an actor who’s one of the greatest actors of his generation, so it was very important for me when casting the role to have somebody who was considered to be one of the greatest actors of his genration."

(Downey beams with mock pride)

Stiller continues... "and Robert does believe he is one of the greatest actors of his generation."

Downey crest falls.

More repartee:

Question: "Your character’s a bit like Russell Crowe..."

Downey: "Well, there I was thinking about how to do this. And, as I said, Sean Penn had turned my role down..."

Stiller: "You don’t know that!"

Downey: "Sure I do, you told me. But you’re right. As you said, just because you said it, does mean it’s true."

Etc, etc.

There’s something strange but very familiar about Ben Stiller’s jaw. How, when he’s doing comedy,  it kind of drops, then locks in cloddish determination.

But maybe the comic duo, though inspired, went one gag too far.

Someone asked about Antonio Banderas and Javier Bardem, in town Friday to pick up a Donostia Award and Spain’s National Cinema Prize respectively.

Downey feigned ignorance. He’d look them up on Google that very evening, he said. Stiller whispered solicitously in his ear. Downey acts like he’s cottoning on. Says he’s jealous. They’re so handsome.

It was fun... until Spanish press agency EFE brought out a story on the wires, which claims about half-way through, that Downey had to look up Bardem and Banderas on the web.

If EFE thought it was a joke, it certainly wasn’t admitting it.

(The El Diario Vasco in contrast, lead coverage of Stiller and Downey’s presence in San Sebastian with the title “Bardem? Banderas? I’ll look them up on Google to see who they are.” But it made clear in the article that this was a Downey boutade.)

Maybe of course it’s all George Bush’s fault.

A few Spaniards, a minority, seem to think that all Americans have the renaissance culture and intellectual incisiveness of the U.S. president.

Most probably, it’s just the hell of writing for a wire service, which is hardly a joke. So jokes for journos doing the wires are the last thing they’re going to have time to recognise, let alone explain.



The Variety España team is on the ground in Spain, bringing regular dispatches throughout the San Sebastian Film Festival.