Eddie Murphy to Imitate Richard Pryor (More)

Published by Jeff Leins on February 27, 2009

Eddie Murphy will take a break from voicing an ass in Shrek movies and being an ass in everything else to try acting again.  He is attached to play Richard Pryor in a biopic about the influential comedian.

Bill Condon is shopping around Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said? to any interested studios after the Weinstein Company put the project in turnaround.  Fox Searchlight may pick it up, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Condon wrote and directed Dreamgirls, which earned Murphy his only Oscar nomination for “Supporting Actor.”  Murphy famously stormed out of the Academy Awards ceremony when he lost to Alan Arkin.

Like most top level comedians working today, Murphy was heavily influenced by the humor of Richard Pryor.  Eddie Murphy himself has credited Pryor as being the sole reason why he went into stand-up comedy, which ultimately made him a major Hollywood star.

But Murphy wasn’t just an admirer, but a friend to the late comedian.  When Murphy directed, produced, co-wrote, and starred in his vanity project Harlem Nights, he cast his idol Pryor in a supporting role.

Even with their history, I don’t feel like Eddie Murphy is the right actor for the job.  With a comedian as beloved and influential as Pryor, his impact on the world of comedy may be better served through a documentary about his work and hearing from the comics who learned from him.