Eddie Murphy: ''A comeback? Well, no, I admit that I don't really like this idea…''

“I've been making films for forty years, I haven't gone anywhere!”, the actor replied when returning to A Prince in New York 2.

In March 2021, Eddie Murphy was on the cover of a magazine First (n°516), on the occasion of the release of the continuation ofA Prince in New York on Amazon Prime. A comedy to (re)watch at the very end of the weekend on TF1: the channel schedules it at 11:05 p.m., just after Nothing to Declare.

The actor and producer looked back on his career, discussing both his successes and his failures. But don't talk to him about ''comeback'' ! Although he admits to having moved away from screens for a while, he does not consider doing his ''great return'' with this sequel to one of his big hits from the 1980s. Here is an extract from his interview to be found in full by purchasing this issue online.

Summary of Première n°516: Eddie Murphy, tribute to Jean-Pierre Bacri, Marina Foïs, Chloé Zhao, Bob Odenkirk…

FIRST: From Dolemite is my name has A prince in New York 2going through your triumphant return to Saturday Night Live at the end of 2019, we have the impression of witnessing the comeback of Eddie Murphy… Is that how you experience it too?
EDDIE MURPHY: A comeback? Well, no, I admit that I don't really like this idea… I've been making cinema for forty years, I haven't gone anywhere! That said, I'm willing to admit that I took a little break. I also gave this interview to Rolling Stone, in 2011, when I announced that I was going to slow down. It was only supposed to last a year or two and, well, it turns out I didn't tour for eight years! (Laughs.) With the exception of this little indie film, Mr. Church. So, OK, I can understand that you feel like I'm back. Even if I don't see it as a comeback at all, which seems to me to be a bit of a high-sounding term.

Still: in all the choices you have made recently, we feel the desire to renew the dialogue with spectators who grew up with you in the 80s, who weren't too interested in your children's films and who had therefore lost track of your career a little…
Listen, this is how it happened: I was relaxing on my couch, my batteries were finally recharged, and I ended up telling myself that I couldn't honestly leave my filmography in the state it was in. was. I was still not going to end my career on Pluto Nash Or Call me Dave ! (Laughs.) I had to come back to projects that really made me laugh, that were fun to do, so that I could leave in style and come back to my couch. We therefore developed this plan of attack: first Dolemite is my name, then a passage to Saturday Night Live, next A prince in New York 2, and finally my return to stand-up. In the meantime, Covid hit and my stand-up plans were postponed. But it started off pretty well: Dolemite was well received, so was Saturday Night Live, I even won an Emmy Award for it.

So you continue with this sequence ofA prince in New York, which is one of your biggest hits, the climax of your golden age. And it was a personal project. It was you who had the idea, you who called on John Landis…
Yes, I was on the road, in the tour bus, I had just broken up with my girlfriend, I was peak of my success, in the middle years 80, and I was daydreaming about meeting a girl who had never heard of me, who wouldn't know Eddie Murphy in a leather suit… It went from there. But be careful, we must not minimize the work of John Landis! If A prince became a classic, it's thanks to him. At that time, John Landis was the king of comedy. The man ! American College, The Blues Brothers, The Werewolf of London, An Armchair for Two… An impressive series of hits, right? A prince in New York, it really is his film.

And the horizon after that, the ultimate goal, is to come back and relax on your sofa?
And how! (Laughs.) If I still make films in the future, it will be for really special occasions, I no longer see myself doing two or three films per year. I'm going to go back to bubble, yes, but this time with the feeling of accomplishment. The reason why I slowed down and took time for myself, I told you, was that I no longer liked the films I was making. I've made some crappy movies, really depressing stuff. So I said stop. I didn't want my career to be limited to: “He made all these incredible hits, then a few crappy movies, and then it was over. » No, I wanted to tell people that I can always make them laugh, remind them of the reasons why they loved me in the first place. But in a way, I feel like I've spent my life doing this, remembering myself every ten years.
Comments collected by Frédéric Foubert

Trailer ofA prince in New York 2 :

A Prince in New York 2 is a celebration of the Eddie Murphy myth [critique]