This weekend Eddie Murphy is coming back to his roots by hosting Saturday Night Live, the show that launched his career. It isn’t the only thing Murphy is returning to, as I learned when he visited our Deadline Studios to tape this week’s edition of my video series, The Actor’s Side.
We talk about everything in a lively and fun conversation that starts out by Murphy wondering why, no matter how he tries to forget it, The Adventures Of Pluto Nash just doesn’t seem to go away. Of course that was a rare miss in a 40-year career that has seen Murphy turn into a major motion picture superstar. After a few years out of the extreme limelight Murphy is back in a big way with his first biopic ever, Dolemite Is My Nam , which is the true story of how a pioneering rapper/comedian Rudy Ray Moore turned into an unlikely action star in a successful series of crude blaxploitation films that started with Dolemite. The role has brought Murphy Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice nominations, along with the best reviews of his career and plenty of Oscar buzz too.
He talks about bringing emotional elements and real dimension to the role in the film he has tried to get made for 15 years, just a pipe dream until Netflix gave it the green light. Murphy talks about how making movies is a hard process and actually no fun, but he likes it when they turn out to be hits, and he has had a few. I asked if there will be another Nutty Professor and he has an intriguing answer. We also discuss upcoming sequels, long in coming, for both Coming To America which just wrapped shooting in Atlanta, and Beverly Hills Cop which is looking towards a 4th edition for Netflix. AND Murphy confirms plans for a return to stand up comedy and a new standup special all in the works for an actor who gives me an interesting answer to my query if this is all a big “comeback” or something else altogether in his life right now.
To watch our conversation just click on the link above.
Eddie Murphy Makes Very Dramatic Return To ‘Saturday Night Live’ In New Promo