Going Full… What?

Is it really Oscar-grubbing to play a character who's mentally ill or mentally disabled?
At the press conference for “The Soloist,” Robert Downey Jr. took issue to a journalist’s asking what his “Tropic Thunder” character Kirk Lazarus would make of co-star Jamie Foxx’s role as a homeless, schizophrenic, Juilliard-trained musician in the new film. Is it even fair to equate the two? This week on the IFC News podcast, we discuss the best and worst portrayals of mental illness and mental disability on screen, and debate whether what Lazarus labeled as going “full retard” actually has the Oscar-grubbing overkill effect he claimed.
Download now (MP3: 33:12 minutes, 30.4 MB)
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Tags:
A Beautiful Mind,
Clean Shaven,
Jamie Foxx,
Keane,
Lodge Kerrigan,
mental disability,
mental illness,
Robert Downey Jr.,
schizophrenia,
Shine,
The Soloist,
Tropic Thunder
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http://www.ifc.com/fix/2009/04/going-full-what
Going Full… What?
type:title
title:going-full-8230-what
articles
type:post-type
post-type:articles
Alison Willmore
type:author
author:alison-willmore
Podcasts
type:category
category:podcasts
A Beautiful Mind
type:post-tag
post-tag:a-beautiful-mind
Clean Shaven
post-tag:clean-shaven
Jamie Foxx
post-tag:jamie-foxx
Keane
post-tag:keane
Lodge Kerrigan
post-tag:lodge-kerrigan
mental disability
post-tag:mental-disability
mental illness
post-tag:mental-illness
Robert Downey Jr.
post-tag:robert-downey-jr
schizophrenia
post-tag:schizophrenia
Shine
post-tag:shine
The Soloist
post-tag:the-soloist
Tropic Thunder
post-tag:tropic-thunder
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