The most controversial movie Eddie Murphy never made: “Now that’s very edgy”
Controversy used to be second nature to Eddie Murphy, and while nobody should actively court potentially bad buzz, the actor and comedian has been playing it safer than ever since ending his Hollywood exile.
Whether it was his outspoken attitude towards the industry, his stand-up routines causing offence among certain demographics, or the high-profile spats he got into with several actors and filmmakers, the stratospheric star was rarely out of the headlines during his initial ascent to household name status.
It’s definitely a good thing that he’s mellowed with age, which is also the reason why it seems so unlikely that he’ll ever get around to making a passion project that feels precision-engineered to court controversy. That’s not to say it won’t happen eventually, but the odds are stacked against it.
When Murphy came in from the cold and earned a Golden Globe nomination for one of his best-ever performances in the Netflix biopic Dolemite Is My Name, there was genuine excitement about what he would do next. Instead, he fell right back into the sameness that cast him out into the wilderness in the first place.
For those who remember Murphy’s incendiary heyday, it makes for uneventful reading. Coming 2 America? Legacy sequel. You People? Forgettable streaming fluff. Candy Cane Lane? Forgettable streaming fluff. Axel F: Beverly Hills Cop? Legacy sequel. The Pickup? Forgettable streaming fluff.
Could that change in the near future? Well, let’s see what he’s got coming up next. Shrek 5? Legacy sequel. A Donkey movie? A spinoff of that legacy sequel. Blue Falcon? An action comedy about a retired spy facing off against his arch-nemesis at his son’s wedding. The Pink Panther? He’ll be the fifth actor to play Inspector Clouseau in the 12th entry in the franchise.
Hardly daring, and that doesn’t bode well for Buck Wonder, Super Slave. As Murphy described it to the Los Angeles Times, it sounds as though it’d be guaranteed to push buttons. “Now that’s very edgy,” he said. “I play a slave called Buck Wonder. And I also play the slave master, as well as Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.”
The narrative unfolds as “a bedtime story that an old man is telling his grandson about the true story of slavery and the Civil War,” with Murphy calling it “a parody of superhero movies and slave movies.” He thinks the concept is “pretty funny,” but there’s destined to be a lot of people who’d disagree, and for a variety of different reasons.
Admittedly, the notion of Murphy burying himself under prosthetics to play multiple roles isn’t as enticing as it was three decades ago, but Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass is nothing if not novel, although potentially ill-advised. Combining superheroes with slavery sounds like a tonal disaster waiting to happen, and if he didn’t pull it off, then he’d be taking fire from all sides.
Whether it happens or not remains up for debate, but looking at his recent filmography, the Academy Award nominee has been playing it safer than ever before, so it’s best not to hedge your bets.
