Etan Cohen talks 'Tropic Thunder' and comedy

Cohen doesn’t look much like one of the creative forces behind the summer’s bloodiest, raunchiest and most politically incorrect comedy.  When he was working on the character of Kirk Lazarus, an actor played by Robert Downey Jr. in “ Tropic Thunder,” he asked himself: What is the most offensive thing an actor can do to get a part?

Have Lazarus, an Australian Method actor, try to become an African American character by undergoing a pigment procedure and then speaking street slang around the clock. “It seemed about the vilest thing you could do,” Cohen said, laughing.