Eddie Murphy Reveals He’s Only Been on One Audition
Eddie Murphy Reveals He’s Only Been on One Audition
Eddie Murphy‘s career trajectory in Hollywood has been atypical, starting with his early success on Saturday Night Live at 19. The new Apple TV+ documentary, Number One on the Call Sheet, explores the experiences of Black leading men in Hollywood, featuring interviews with Murphy, Denzel Washington, and others. Murphy reflects on his rapid rise to fame and the advice he received from Hollywood elders like Sidney Poitier and James Brown. Poitier discouraged him from playing Roots author Alex Haley in director Norman Jewison’s planned adaptation of Haley’s The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
As for James Brown’s advice, stop cursing and to bury his millions in the woods. “And I said, ‘Why bury my money in the woods?’ ” Murphy says in the documentary. “He said, ‘The government will take it from you. So, bury it.’ And I said, ‘But can’t the government take your land?’ And he said, ‘But they won’t know where the money is.’ That’s a true story. That’s the kind of advice I used to get.”
As for that one audition, Murphy says. “I had one audition in my whole life. I think I’m the only actor that could say that. I had one audition. It was for Saturday Night Live.”
The documentary sheds light on Murphy’s unique journey in the entertainment industry, now available for streaming on Apple TV+.
