Daily Dialogue — January 8, 2012

Kevin Sandusky: You guys all read the script, right?

Kirk Lazarus: I don’t read the script, script reads me.

— Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel), Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey, Jr.), Tropic Thunder (2008), screenplay by Justin Theroux & Ben Stiller and Etan Cohen, story by Ben Stiller & Justin Theroux

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is snappy answers to dumb questions, suggested by Richard. Today’s suggestion by Teddy Pasternak.

Trivia: In one of the special features on the director’s cut DVD, Ben Stiller said he has been developing ideas for this movie for about 8–10 years. One of his first ideas was that the movie was going to be about actors going to a “fake boot camp” for a couple of weeks and coming back with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. When Stiller started out in Hollywood, he had a lot of colleagues going into war movies and they would attend a “fake boot camp” in order to prepare for their roles. He found it ridiculous and this was an early inspiration on what would become Tropic Thunder.

Dialogue On Dialogue: As Teddy noted when he made the suggestion, “Alright, so this is actually a dumb answer to a reasonable question, but it’s so funny I thought I’d suggest it anyway.”