Eddie Murphy’s 80s run has possibly given him carte blanche to do any paycheck movie he wants while people still call him the greatest of all time. Murphy has been candid in the past about knowing that he took roles in some stinkers simply because the studio was willing to shell out the dough. While his decisions aren’t motivated by artistic integrity or ego, his motivations were simple and relatable, as he explained, “Every bad decision I’ve made has been based on money. I grew up in the projects and you don’t turn down money there. You take it, because you never know when it’s all going to end.”
IndieWire reports on Murphy’s recent interview with Complex, where he reveals that he turned down the opportunity to do Rush Hour in favor of the movie Holy Man since the nature of the production appealed more to him. Murphy says,
They came to me, it was two scripts. It was Rush Hour, it’s going to be action-comedy and you’re going to be with Jackie Chan, and it’s action, it’s summertime, running, all this physical stuff. This other [offer] was, ‘You in a robe in Miami’ — it was a no-brainer. We went to Miami and made a horrendous film, but it was easy. I have to stop saying horrendous. The movie was soft, it wasn’t a great picture.”
Murphy has been credited with helping to usher in the buddy-cop comedy era with his film debut in 48 Hrs., where he and Nick Nolte lit up the screen with their chemistry and unconventional brotherhood. Having Murphy in Rush Hour would have changed the trajectory of not only him, but also Chris Tucker. Tucker would become a bigger household name with the film, and his paycheck would similarly grow like Murphy’s. Except, Tucker would go through a span in his career where he had only appeared in Rush Hour sequels.
Murphy would also get candid about the criticism of Norbit in the interview, as he says, “I love Norbit,” he said. “You know, Norbit came out right after I got the Oscar nomination. There were articles, it was like, ‘How can he get an Oscar, he did this.’ It’s like two different movies. I wrote Norbit with my brother Charlie, and we think Norbit is funny.”
You can currently check out Murphy in his new Prime Video film, The Pickup.
