Ben Stiller has joked that his role as an egotistical movie star in new comedy spoof 'Tropic Thunder' is "real method acting" at the film's UK premiere.
The movie mocks Hollywood, but has courted controversy in the US, where not all audiences have appreciated jokes about the mentally disabled and race, with protests marring its American premiere.
It tells the story of a group of actors in a Vietnam war movie who are accidentally dropped into the middle of a real danger zone.
Writer and director Stiller said his turn as a big-headed star was: "real method acting".
He joked: "I think actors have a really good sense of humour about themselves. At the end of the day it's a bloodless crime when you make fun of Hollywood."
On the jokes about the mentally disabled and race which appear in the film, Stiller added: "When people see it they get it that the joke is on the actors."
Click here for our Tropic Thunder premiere gallery.
Robert Downey Jr, who plays Kirk Lazarus, an Australian actor who undergoes skin surgery to play a black character, said: "If anybody knows what's funny and can be wild without being ridiculous and offensive, it's Ben."
Jack Black, who also appears in the film, said that Stiller had written,"an incredible script".
On the lack of protests at the London premiere he added: "I think maybe people are a little more puritanical in the States and here people have maybe a freer sense of humour.
"All this stuff seems ridiculous and absurd and ridiculously over the top but that's the way Hollywood is. It's filled with prima donnas. I think anybody who's involved in the industry has a little of the spoilt brat. It comes with the territory."
Tropic Thunder is released in Ireland on Friday, 19 September.
