The one movie Eddie Murphy knew would be awful before he began making it: “Before I even opened it”
Comedy greatness is hard to fine. But the list of quality comedy movies released with Eddie Murphy in the lead role is seemingly endless.
Throughout his wildly impressive career, Murphy has appeared in some of the most side-splittingly hilarious films, including Beverly Hills Cop and Trading Places. It’s a skill that saw him become one of the most coveted names in cinematic comedy.
It’s no wonder that Murphy was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2015. He also gained notoriety for his raucous and sometimes controversial stand-up comedy routines, including Raw and Delirious, which remain some of the most nerve-touching moments of stand-up of all time.
However, while Murphy indeed had several big-hitting movies to his name, it’s fair to say that some of his filmography is not dripping in the comedy gold that we’re used to associating the cinema legend with. Not every picture can be a big hit, and knowing exactly which ones will or won’t make it big is a difficult skill to possess. But, Murphy always had an inkling.
When he spoke to David Letterman in the early part of his career, Murphy named a movie he was not keen on but decided to take anyway. Perhaps the paycheque was simply too alluring to turn down, but there is one film that stunk before Murphy even had a chance to give it a sniff.
“Well, I trust my feelings,” the comedy icon began when speaking to the legendary interviewer. “The only movie I’ve had a bad feeling about when picking up the script was Best Defense. Before I even opened it up, it was like, ‘Eeeesh’. I opened the script up and read it, and I felt bad. But they had a check like I had never seen before.”
Best Defense was released in 1984 and saw Murphy star alongside the empirical comedian, Dudley Moore. It tells of two parallel plots: one in 1982 when Moore plays an engineer who is working on a United States Army tank targeting system, and another in 1984 when Murphy plays an Army Lieutenant deployed in Kuwait to test the new tank.
Discussing how he decided to take the money despite the film’s low quality, Murphy said, “My morals and principles went right out the window. My career almost went out with it, too. Paramount was like, ‘Look, Eddie, we’re not going to advertise much with you. It’s a Dudley Moore film. Next thing I know, ‘EDDIE MURPHY BEST DEFENSE. That’s what happened.”
The financial benefit of Best Defense was too much for Murphy to turn down, especially considering the kind of money he’d made before. He signed off, “It was more money than I had been paid to do 48 Hours in Trading Places combined to do Best Defence. That’s how much money it was. I freaked, man.”
It goes to show that while we hope our favourite actors champion artistic endeavour over everything, the need to fill the coffers is apparent for everyone. Murphy was quickly becoming the most successful comedian of his day, but he still couldn’t turn down the passive payday.
Check out the trailer for Best Defense, the only movie Eddie Murphy had a bad feeling about, below.
