NEED TO KNOW
Eddie Murphy is reflecting on his life and career in a new documentary.
On Wednesday, Oct. 22, Netflix released the trailer for Being Eddie, which covers the iconic actor and comedian’s life from the time he began performing stand-up comedy in high school to his Saturday Night Live days, movie stardom and more.
“It goes without saying that there is only one Eddie Murphy. No other teen comedian shared a stage with Jerry Seinfeld at 17, and joined the cast of Saturday Night Live right out of high school,” reads an official synopsis for the doc, which is directed by two-time Academy Award winner Angus Wall. (Wall’s Oscar wins are for editing the movies The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.)
“No actor has ever played a cop, a doctor, and a donkey — and dominated every facet of Hollywood he’s touched. Fewer still have been an A-list celebrity for over four decades, and never succumbed to its darker side,” the synopsis adds. “Murphy’s unusual combination of explosive charisma, focused ambition, raw talent, and deep-set circumspection puts him in a league of his own, and is on full display in Being Eddie.”
Eddie Murphy/Courtesy of Netflix
With an A-list group of comedians, producers and actors who appear in the documentary — including Arsenio Hall, Brian Grazer, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Jamie Foxx, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Jerry Bruckheimer, Jerry Seinfeld, John Landis, Kenan Thompson, Kevin Hart, Michael Che, Pete Davidson, Ruth Carter, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Tracy Morgan — the film celebrates Murphy “and his nearly 50-year career that’s seen him break barriers, invent genres, and inspire generations of talent,” as the synopsis adds.
“For the first time ever, Murphy invites the public into his home to revisit his breathtaking body of work, all the while revealing the dazzling interior life that has long driven — and grounded — this once-in-a-century star,” it reads.
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Courtesy of Netflix
“Eddie has played a lot of different characters over the last 40 plus years, but he has never played himself on screen before,” the documentary’s director Wall told Netflix’s Tudum in an Oct. 14 piece about the film. “He opens up his world and his heart and I think people are going to really enjoy spending time with him.”
Murphy most recently appeared in Prime Video movies The Pickup and Candy Cane Lane, as well as Netflix’s 2024 film Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, the fourth in his Beverly Hills Cop series.
Being Eddie begins streaming on Netflix Nov. 12.
