Eddie Murphy could have played Roger Rabbit! As he declared a few years ago, the American actor had indeed been approached to play in the legendary feature film by Robert Zemeckis.
From Professor Bending to Beverly Hills Cop via Dr Dolittle, An Armchair for Two and A Prince in New York, Eddie Murphy was an essential face of American comedy in the 80s and 90s.
If he is a little rarer today on the screens, he is nevertheless preparing to find the indescribable character of Axel Foley in a fourth opus of Beverly Hills Cop which will be revealed on Netflix on July 3 .
But for now, let’s take a quick look in the rearview mirror, and go back 35 years in the past, because at that time, Eddie Murphy almost played another famous cinema protagonist: his namesake, the detective private Eddie Valliant, responsible for discovering if Jessica Rabbit had indeed done “picoti-picota” with Marvin Acme in the famous feature film directed by Robert Zemeckis in 1988… Who wants the skin of Roger Rabbit?
Indeed, as he had told on the set of Jimmy Fallon 4 years ago, Eddie Murphy still regrets today having missed out on this role.
Touchstone Pictures
Before talking about Roger Rabbit, the actor began by confirming to his interlocutor that he had also had to refuse to join the cast of Ghostbusters in 1984:
“It was to do Beverly Hills Cop. It wasn’t really that I turned it down, more that I wasn’t available because I was on another film.”he clarified, before talking about his biggest regret:
“The only movie I ever turned down that became a big hit was Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I had to do Bob Hoskins’ character. And I said, ‘What? ?Cartoons and people? That seems like nonsense to me!’ Now, every time I watch the movie again, I feel like an idiot.”
Would you have liked to see Eddie Murphy visit Toonville alongside Roger Rabbit?
(Re)discover all the hidden details in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”…
