Eddie Murphy was warned by Sidney Poitier to not star in “Malcolm X.”
Throughout an interview for Apple TV+’s “Quantity One on the Name Sheet: Black Main Males in Hollywood,” Murphy revealed he ran into Poitier and introduced up that he had been approached to play Alex Haley within the 1992 movie when Norman Jewison was connected to the film earlier than Spike Lee took over. Poitier was so towards it he talked Murphy out of the position.
“They have been speaking about doing ‘Malcolm X,’” Murphy stated. “Norman Jewison was placing it collectively. They have been gonna use ‘The Autobiography of Malcolm X’ by Alex Haley. And so they approached me about taking part in Alex Haley. Round that very same time, I ran into Sidney Poitier at one thing, and I requested him, ‘Yeah, I’m serious about taking part in Alex Haley!’ And Sidney Poitier stated, ‘You aren’t Denzel [Washington], and you aren’t Morgan [Freeman]. You’re a breath of contemporary air, and don’t f–okay with that!’”
He continued, ““I didn’t know if it was an insult or a praise. I used to be like, ‘What?’”
Murphy speculated the rationale Poitier was so adamant for him to keep away from the “Malcolm X” position was as a result of he was “one thing type of new.” He reasoned the actor was unsure learn how to advise the up-and-comer.
“They didn’t have a reference for me, they couldn’t give me recommendation, as a result of I used to be 20, 21 years previous, and my viewers was the mainstream — all of in all places,” Murphy stated. “My films [were] all world wide, and so they had by no means had that with a younger Black individual. So no person may give me recommendation, actually. Every little thing broke actually huge and actually quick.”
Washington went on to earn a Finest Actor Oscar nomination for his position in “Malcolm X” after Lee took over.
“Quantity One on the Name Sheet: Black Main Males in Hollywood” is a two-part documentary challenge from director Reginald Hudlin (additionally behind the Oprah Winfrey-produced 2022 documentary on Poitier, “Sidney”). The Apple TV+ documentary charts the Hollywood historical past of boundary-breaking Black male actors like Poitier and Murphy and the way they charted the trail for Black actors working in the present day.
The put up Eddie Murphy Reveals the Oscar-Winning Movie Sidney Poitier Warned Him Not to Star In: ‘You Are Not Denzel’ appeared first on TheWrap.
