A good while ago we reported on Paramount’s venture to tell the life story of a comic legend, the late, lamented Richard Pryor. Eddie Murphy was attached to star and, with Pryor’s wife on board to advise, this film looked set to rejuvenate Murphy’s career with a serious comic role playing one of his heroes.
Sadly this s not how it will play out. Anyone who has seen Murphy talk of Pryor can see the respect and love he has for this man, a Black American comedian who changed the world for people like Murphy, and the adulation would have made Murphy’s depiction of Pryor an interesting one.
Disagreements have apparently curtailed Murphy’s involvement Sony (the project’s new home) have approached Marlon Wayans to step into the role. Wayans, known in the main for his work on the Scary Movie installments, can play a decent serious role. Empire, who reported the news here, cite his role in Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream as proof, and talk of his transformation into Pryor which convinced the studio bods.
I’ll still want to watch this film, titled Is it Something I Said?, when it’s released, however I can’t help be a little sad that we won’t see Murphy embody the man he saw as a mentor.
