Murphy's "smoking gun"
The definitive Eddie Murphy dynamite- plunger quote has been just sent to me. It's in the latest Entertainment Weekly, and in my judgment it's almost in the realm of a Nixonian "smoking gun" remark -- spoken by DreamWorks honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg, no less. If it gets around, it should finish off widespread Academy support for this wonderfully talented artist and entertainer for good...except among those Academy voters who refuse to be influenced by the facts.
"Following his Oscar-nominated turn in Dreamgirls as r & b singer James 'Thunder' Early, one might expect Murphy to take on riskier roles, like, say, playing James Brown in Spike Lee's planned biopic. Nope: After his slapstick romance Norbit opens on Feb. 9, Murphy shoots the sci-fi comedy Starship Dave. And he recently announced plans for the fantastical family film Nowhereland, along with a fourth Beverly Hills Cop movie.
"DreamWorks cofounder and good friend Jeffrey Katzenberg says Murphy, 45, has no desire to stretch for stretching's sake: 'Some actors are interested in going somewhere they've never gone before -- if they're dramatic actors they want to be comedians, if they're action heroes they want to be Shakespearean actors. That's just not who Eddie is."
A friend has shared the following: "Eddie's role in Dreamgirls is about 75% comedic. The 25% that's not comedic or impressionistic is mostly him being sullen...which I don't think comes that unnaturally in real life. I think what people have been responding to isn't so much a great performance as someone stepping out of his box a little...but now that he's made it clear he has no desire to step out of that box ever again, people have to go back and actually reevaluate the performance -- which is, as you said, just okay."
Another Beverly Hills Cop flick? I know...Murphy's a divine God and I'm the jerk, right?
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 8, 2007 at 2:26 PM
comment #1
Jeremy Smith
says ...
How drunk are you right now?
Posted by Jeremy Smith
at February 8, 2007 3:03 PM
comment #2
erniesouchak
says ...
If this were true, he never would have done 'Bowfinger,' which is STILL his best work. Come on, Jeff, if he wins he would hardly be the first very talented a**hole to win an Oscar. Let it go!
Posted by erniesouchak
at February 8, 2007 3:08 PM
comment #3
Devin Faraci
says ...
He wants to just do comedies? Denying him an Oscar isn't enough - someone shoot this guy!
Posted by Devin Faraci
at February 8, 2007 3:09 PM
comment #4
Mr. Gittes
says ...
So the question is, would you rather have Wahlberg win or Arkin? I say Wahlberg because The Departed NEEDS to be recognized for its outstanding ensemble cast. A win for Wahlberg is a win for everyone on that film ( Sheen, Baldwin, Jack, even Leo I guess)
Posted by Mr. Gittes
at February 8, 2007 3:10 PM
comment #5
alynch
says ...
Murphy is not a divine god Jeff. He is a total jerk asshole and so are you. That makes things so much simpler doesn't it.
Posted by alynch
at February 8, 2007 3:14 PM
comment #6
Joe B.
says ...
Lord... give it a rest. I have always enjoyed reading H.E. until recently. Even some of the most tiring campaigns on the site never went on this long...
Last time I can remember someone going on so freaking long about someone they supposedly couldn't stand was Trump trash-talking about Rosie... again... and again... and again...
Posted by Joe B.
at February 8, 2007 3:16 PM
comment #7
christian
says ...
coming from kateznberg -- arnie supporter -- that must hurt.
Posted by christian
at February 8, 2007 3:16 PM
comment #8
Craig Kennedy
says ...
No one ever claimed Murphy was a divine god, Jeff, but yeah you're still being kind of a jerk. Somehow, you could write a column called "Hitler: Man That Guy Was a Creep" and probably come off sounding like a jerk.
Posted by Craig Kennedy
at February 8, 2007 3:18 PM
comment #9
Walter Sobchak
says ...
Get him, Jeff! GET HIM!!!
Posted by Walter Sobchak
at February 8, 2007 3:18 PM
comment #10
Jeremy Smith
says ...
Eddie Murphy controls the media and starts all the wars in the world. He also killed Adam Walsh and told ABC to cancel TAXI in 1982.
Posted by Jeremy Smith
at February 8, 2007 3:19 PM
comment #11
alynch
says ...
Eddie Murphy has a bunch of dead hookers buried in his backyard, but he'll never be caught because he owns the police.
Posted by alynch
at February 8, 2007 3:32 PM
comment #12
Zoidberg
says ...
How dare you speak that way about the star of Pluto Nash?
Posted by Zoidberg
at February 8, 2007 3:38 PM
comment #13
The Movie Man
says ...
It's insulting to compare this issue to the Nixon remark because clearly the discovery that a comedian's prefers comedy to drama (how SHOCKING!) is of much more importance to sorting out our country's various evils.
Posted by The Movie Man
at February 8, 2007 3:51 PM
comment #14
The Movie Man
says ...
It's insulting to compare this issue to the Nixon remark because clearly the discovery that a comedian prefers comedy to drama (how SHOCKING!) is of much more importance to sorting out our country's various evils.
Posted by The Movie Man
at February 8, 2007 3:51 PM
comment #15
Craig Kennedy
says ...
Jeff's just subliminally trying to make himself appear more 'Woodward & Bernstein'-esque with this whole "Eddie is a Jerk" bombshell reporting, Movie Man.
Posted by Craig Kennedy
at February 8, 2007 4:02 PM
comment #16
Devin Faraci
says ...
Eddie Murphy is the Zodiac Killer! If he doesn't get the Oscar he's going to take out a schoolbus full of kids.
Actually, if you took the last act of ZODIAC and replaced Gyllenhaal with Wells and Zodiac with Eddie Murphy...
Posted by Devin Faraci
at February 8, 2007 4:03 PM
comment #17
The Movie Man
says ...
Devin-don't tease, how is the new Fincher movie?
Posted by The Movie Man
at February 8, 2007 4:11 PM
comment #18
Devin Faraci
says ...
cjKennedy - not to mention that this bombshell is from an issue of EW that came out last Friday.
Posted by Devin Faraci
at February 8, 2007 4:12 PM
comment #19
Craig Kennedy
says ...
Devin - In other words it's not just a turd, but a stale one. A stale turd that came from the anus of one of the worst magazines in print. Keep up the good work, Wells.
Posted by Craig Kennedy
at February 8, 2007 4:14 PM
comment #20
qwiggles
says ...
I think Jeff is being funny.
Right?
Posted by qwiggles
at February 8, 2007 4:27 PM
comment #21
bipedalist
says ...
Is it about who WILL win or who SHOULD win? Who will win is a good question on this topic. I can't see the fire through the smoke on this one because one must separate out Wells' need to take-down Murphy to see if, in fact, Murphy is really weak. I don't see him not winning, unless it's an upset. And lately, predicting an upset in any of the four acting locks is fruitless. I don't know how it will go, but Wells isn't helping to clear up the picture.
"Get him, Jeff, get him!" --ahaha.
Posted by bipedalist
at February 8, 2007 4:31 PM
comment #22
Craig Kennedy
says ...
I don't know Bipedalist, I'm sensing a cooling of enthusiasm for Dreamgirls in general...not among experts or voters, but among friends for what that's worth...and I think Murphy would be the first one tossed out If I'm right. Hudson still seems like a lock, but Murphy seems vulnerable.
Posted by Craig Kennedy
at February 8, 2007 4:39 PM
comment #23
dre
says ...
Eddie Muprhy should die of gonorhea and rot in hell...would you like a cookie?
Posted by dre
at February 8, 2007 5:04 PM
comment #24
le corbeau
says ...
I love Bowfinger, and I even agree that it may offer some support for the idea that Murphy has some degree of critical self-awareness... but still, that's one movie in twenty years. Not enough. Even if he went around talking about some dream project that he's never managed to make, like Stallone and his Poe movie, I might give him more credit... but Murphy's dream project seems to be Dr. Dolittle 3.
Posted by le corbeau
at February 8, 2007 5:28 PM
comment #25
rocco
says ...
What a legacy...trying to derail the oscar chances of a man who has never even given one minute of thought to your existence. Get a life, you are detroying H-E.
Posted by rocco
at February 8, 2007 5:57 PM
comment #26
bipedalist
says ...
CJ - yeah, but it's hard to separate real loss of heat from this weird web stuff. I wish I knew - but there are no other award shows coming up to prove he will or he won't. If not Eddie, who? I don't see it being Arkin's year.
Posted by bipedalist
at February 8, 2007 6:07 PM
comment #27
Craig Kennedy
says ...
You've got a point there Bipedalist, as always. Perhaps The Departed will carry the night and Mark Wahlberg will be carried along with it. Unlikely, true, but I man can dream, can't he?
Posted by Craig Kennedy
at February 8, 2007 6:31 PM
comment #28
Sean
says ...
"If not Eddie, who? I don't see it being Arkin's year."
It's Arkin's year.
Arkin's competition is:
- a guy who is so hated in Hollywood that Jack Nicholson's intense lobbying couldn't get him nominated for an Oscar prior to this (Murphy)
- a really fun third-tier performance with nothing remotely "Oscary" (Wahlberg)
- a two-dimensional role in a movie nobody liked much (Houston)
- the comeback performance from a child actor in a movie nobody saw
How does it go to anybody but the beloved aged character actor who has never won an Oscar in the movie that they're looking for ways to honor?
Posted by Sean
at February 8, 2007 7:44 PM
comment #29
bipedalist
says ...
I feel your pain, cj. Sean, if that were true, surely the actors, for god's sake, would have given Arkin the prize. Is Houston supposed to be Hounsou? I still think if it were Arkin's time, we'd know it. I don't think the role of grandpa was enough in LMS to win an Oscar with - stranger things have happened. I don't see it as the year everyone celebrated Alan Arkin, rather, but for a few web loudmouths and journos, no one really talks about him at all; his was the weakest perf in the film.
Posted by bipedalist
at February 8, 2007 8:02 PM
comment #30
christian
says ...
i guess the ny times counts as one of the few web journos?
said it before, say it again:
alan arkin.
look at the big picture.
Posted by christian
at February 8, 2007 11:01 PM
comment #31
Terry McCarty
says ...
Any evidence that NORBIT was a quid-pro-quo for Eddie agreeing to appear in DREAMGIRLS?
Posted by Terry McCarty
at February 9, 2007 12:12 AM
comment #32
T. S. Idiot
says ...
I'm beginning to hope Eddie wins just so he can tell, in his acceptance speech, the bloggers of the world to kiss his black ass.
Posted by T. S. Idiot
at February 9, 2007 9:32 AM
comment #33
bipedalist
says ...
I get "the big picture" but I don't see the Acad. recognizes it. If Arkin wins, it will be a win for LMS, not for him, imHo.
Posted by bipedalist
at February 9, 2007 9:32 AM
comment #34
christian
says ...
it will indeed be a win for arkin since he played the role.
but if o'toole is up for it because of his history, then arkin is due his own. he's been nominated twice before, he's respected beyond belief and the older voters know who he is.
none of that goes into the murphy factor.
arkin wins.
Posted by christian
at February 9, 2007 11:00 AM