Ben Stiller (Meet the Parents), Jack Black (Envy) and Robert Downey Jr. lead an ensemble cast in Tropic Thunder, an action comedy about a group of self-absorbed actors who set out to make the biggest war film ever.

Pampered action superstar Tugg Speedman (Stiller), gross-out funnyman Jeff Portnoy (Black), and five-time Oscar winning method actor Kirk Lazarus's new film "Tropic Thunder" is under threat of shutdown after ballooning costs, the out-of-control egos of the pampered cast, and a frustrated director who refuses to stop shooting leads the production deep into the jungles of Southeast Asia for “increased realism."

The filmmakers are joined by actors Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), a multi-platinum hip-hop-star-turned-entrepreneur and earnest newcomer Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel), along with Vietnam veteran and military technical adviser Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte), and an overly enthusiastic movie pyrotechnic expert Cody (Danny McBride). This unlikely group of self-absorbed prima donnas, crazed crew and battle-hardened veterans come together to film an epic war movie, only to unwittingly wind up in an actual battle when they encounter real bad guys whom the bumbling actors mistake as fellow thespians on their film.

The explosive comedy co-stars Steve Coogan, Bill Hader, Matthew McConaughey (Amistad) and, in one of the most celebrated cameos to ever grace and sully the screen with its raw language, Tom Cruise (Minority Report)—yes, Tom Cruise—as powerhouse Hollywood mogul Les Grossman. The film is directed by Ben Stiller from a screenplay by Justin Theroux & Ben Stiller and Etan Cohen, based on a story by Stiller & Theroux. Tropic Thunder was produced for DreamWorks Pictures by Stuart Cornfeld, Ben Stiller and Eric McLeod.