The boys of “ Tropic Thunder” are just one entry in the annals of celebrity bromance, beginning with the pioneering friendship of Matt and Ben to the surprising link between Scientology pals Tom and Will. We take a look at the best of them:
Three-way bromance
What men (and women) won’t do for Ben Stiller. In “Tropic Thunder,” Robert Downey Jr. plays blackface. Jack Black dyes his hair peroxide blond. And all three get down and dirty in Southeast Asia in Stiller’s Hollywood war satire. It’s the stuff true bromance is made of.
-- Denise Martin and Stephanie Lysaght, L.A. Times (Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)
Childhood pals Justin Timberlake and Trace Ayala, who say they’ve known each other since they “were in the womb” are so close that when Timberlake joined ‘NSYNC, Ayala picked up and moved from Tennessee to Orlando, Fla., with him. Ayala designed clothes for the boy band as well as Timberlake’s then-girlfriend Britney Spears. In 2005, the pair launched William Rast, a fashion line named after their grandfathers. (Ringo H.W. Chiu / Los Angeles Times)
‘Sexiest’ bromance
While promoting “Ocean’s Thirteen,” these BFF and two of People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” revealed to Entertainment Weekly how and where they first met:
CLOONEY: The baths. PITT: On Pico Boulevard. That’s right. I forgot about that. CLOONEY: You wouldn’t have recognized me with the leather hood on. [Laughs] PITT: [Makes a disgusted face] I’m eating here.
Seriously, though, you guys are obviously friends.
PITT: It’s true. We have good fun together. We all know each other pretty well now and know each other’s families. CLOONEY: It’s the funniest thing, I have to say: Since “Eleven,” when we started, all the guys have gotten married, had kids, and have whole families. This time there were babies everywhere. We’d be on the set in L.A., and I just sit in the middle of the whole thing like an old man. PITT: He looks like he’s trying to decipher a foreign language. CLOONEY: It’s true! I’m like, “What the hell are these little things?” (Kevork Djansezian / Associated Press)
Scientology bromance
It’s true: Box office titans Tom Cruise and Will Smith bonded over Scientology. Last December, the “ Hancock” star defended his pal to Access Hollywood. “When I sit and I talk with Tom Cruise, he is one of the greatest spirits that Ive ever met someone who is committed to making the world better. You have people [that] are attacking and wanna fight that dont know nothing how you gonna not know nothing about Scientology and attack somebody? Its dangerous and its ignorant.” (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)
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Activist bromance
After starring together in Y Tu Mama Tambien in 2001, Mexican actors Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna turned their attention to life behind the scenes. The tight-knit twosome launched a documentary film production company.
“Documentaries show us the injustices in the country where we live, that this problem exists,” Garcia Bernal said at a news conference in Mexico City. “We can’t escape it.” (Damon Winter / Los Angeles Times)
Creative bromance
Directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez have managed to collaborate on numerous projects and still keep their tight-knit friendship intact. Tarantino wrote From Dusk Till Dawn and Rodriguez directed it, and the twosome co-wrote and co-directed Four Rooms. They also worked together on Sin City and Grindhouse. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)