Eddie Murphy has shared the advice Sidney Poitier gave him after he was approached to star in the 1992 film Malcolm X.
Murphy, 63, who shot to fame on Saturday Night Live before establishing himself as a lead man with starring roles in The Golden Child and Harlem Nights, was steered away from the role by Poitier.
In the new documentary Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Men in Hollywood, Murphy recalled the confusing career advice from the legendary In the Heat of the Night star.
“They were talking about doing Malcolm X [and] Norman Jewison (who directed Fiddler on the Roof and Moonstruck) was putting it together,” he recalled.
“They were gonna use The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Hayley and they approached me about playing Alex Haley.”
Murphy continued: “Around the same time, I bumped into Sidney Poitier at something and I asked him, ‘Yeah, I’m thinking about playing Alex Hayley.’ Poitier said, ‘You are not Denzel, and you are not Morgan. You are a breath of fresh air, and don’t f*** with that,’” the actor recalled, per Entertainment Weekly.
“I didn’t know if it was an insult or a compliment,” Murphy admitted. “I was like, ‘What?’” Murphy, Freeman and Washington were all finding their way as Hollywood leading men at the same time.
While Washington was eventually cast in Malcolm X, Murphy went on to star in a series of much-loved comedies, including Boomerang, Nutty Professor and Dr. Dolittle.
Washington was nominated for Best Actor at the 1993 Oscars for his role as the civil rights activist in the film ultimately directed by Spike Lee, which did not include Hayley’s character despite being based on his book.
When reflecting on why Poitier saw him as a different type of actor to his peers, Murphy said: “I was in uncharted waters. For Sidney and all those guys, when I showed up, it was something kinda new.
“They didn’t have a reference for me, they couldn’t give me advice, because I was 20, 21 years old, and my audience was the mainstream – all of everywhere.
“My movies [were] all around the world, and they had never had that with a young Black person. So nobody could give me advice, really. Everything broke really big and really fast.”
Murphy said singer James Brown also offered him a career tip: “He told me I should stop cursing,” he revealed. “He said, ‘You wanna be in this business for a long time? Stop that cursing.’”
Brown also recommended that if Murphy had made a million dollars he bury his money in the woods so the government couldn’t take it from him.
“I was like, ‘But can’t the government take your land?’ and he said, ‘But they won’t know where the money is,” Murphy claimed. “That’s a true story.”
He added: “That’s the kind of advice I used to get. We didn’t have a lot of elders.”
Last year, Murphy reflected on how “racist” jokes were made at his expense on Saturday Night Livein the Nineties, despite him being “the biggest thing that ever came off that show”.
One such joke occurred when comedian David Spade, as part of his “Hollywood Minute” sketch, showed a photo of Murphy, stating: “Look children, it’s a falling star. Make a wish.”
Murphy said of the comment: “It was like: ‘Yo, it’s in-house! I’m one of the family, and you’re f***ing with me like that?’ It hurt my feelings like that.”
The actor said the joke “was personal”, adding: “It was like, ‘Yo, how could you do that?’ My career? Really? A joke about my career? So I thought that was a cheap shot. And it was kind of, I thought – I felt it was racist.”
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