After dominating the film industry, particularly in comedies, for what seems like three straight decades (’80s, ’90s, ’00s), Eddie Murphy hasn’t been nearly as prolific over the past 10 years. And according to a new interview on the WTF Podcast, Murphy explained that he was just sick of making “shitty movies.”
Last week, Amazon Prime Video released the highly-anticipated comedy, “Coming 2 America.” That film arrived only about two years after his previous film, “Dolemite is My Name.” Before those two films, Murphy had only released 3 films since 2011, a far cry from the nearly annual release of a new film (or multiple per year) since he broke out in the early-‘80s. And according to Murphy, the decision to step away from the industry after 2011 was a conscious one.
“The plan was—cause I had stopped making movies in 2011. I was like, Let me take a break from movies,'” he explained. “Because I was making these shitty movies, and it was like, ‘This shit ain’t fun.’ They giving me Razzies; I think these motherfuckers gave me the Worst Actor Ever Razzie or some shit [laughs]. It’s like, ‘Maybe it’s time to take a break? [laughs]”
It should be noted; Murphy is very unruffled, self-deprecating, and good-natured about retelling this story. These aren’t the words of a bitter performer, at all.
“When you get the Worst Actor Ever Razzie? Maybe I need to pull back [laughs],” he recalled with a hearty laugh. “I was only going to take a break for a year and then all of a sudden six years go by, and I’m sitting on the couch and [thinking], ‘You know, I could sit on this couch and not get off it, but I don’t wanna leave it, the last bunch of shit [audiences] seen me do was bullshit.’ So, I was like, ‘Let me get off the couch and do some stuff and remind ’em that I’m funny and if I wanna return to the couch, I could do that.'”
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And since that realization, it’s clear that Murphy has been way more selective with his features, especially recently with ‘Dolemite’ and “Coming 2 America,” which are both closer to the realm of comedy films that he pioneered in the ‘80s. But it’s also important to note that this is not the start of a string of a dozen comedy films over the next decade. Far from it.
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Murphy explained that once the pandemic runs its course and the world is back to some sense of normalcy, he’d love to get back into doing stand-up comedy more. This is a desire that he’s expressed quite a bit in recent years. However, if you’re a massive Eddie Murphy fan (like myself), you may be a little interested to know that he doesn’t mention “Beverly Hills Cop 4,” which was originally planned to shoot shortly after “Coming 2 America.” Back before COVID, Murphy talked about how he was going to do these two sequels and ride off into the stand-up sunset. But with no mention of the “Beverly Hills Cop” sequel, has that plan changed? We’ll just have to see what happens when the pandemic clears up and Murphy lays out his plans.
“Coming 2 America” is available now on Amazon Prime Video.