Hollywood "elders" had conflicting takes when it came to Eddie Murphy's career.
The actor-comedian appears in upcoming Apple TV+ limited docuseries Number One on the Call Sheet, and in one episode, the 63-year-old recalled getting advice from Academy Award winner Sidney Poitier early on. At the time, Murphy was known for taking on humorous roles but was approached about portraying author Alex Haley in a Malcolm X biopic. In 1992, Spike Lee's Malcolm X was released, starring Denzel Washington as the titular character.
But when telling Poitier, who died in 2022 at 94 years old, about the opportunity, Murphy couldn't tell if the actor's response was an "insult or a compliment."
"And I asked him, 'Yeah, I’m thinking about playing Alex Haley,'" Murphy explained, according to People. "And Sidney Poitier said, 'You are not Denzel, and you are not Morgan [Freeman]. You are a breath of fresh air. And don’t f— with that.' And I was like, 'What?'"
It seems that Murphy took Poiter's word for it and declined the opportunity since he never played Haley, but the actor has been in the 2019 biopic Dolemite Is My Name as Rudy Ray Moore. Murphy is also slated to play funk legend George Clinton in a Bill Condon-directed biopic.
Murphy additionally discussed wisdom he received from late entertainers Marlon Brando and soul icon James Brown, who told the entertainer to refrain from using explicit language.
"He said, 'You want to be in this business for a long time, you should stop that cursing,'" Murphy recalled about Brown's advice. "And he said, 'You think you got a million dollars?' I said, 'Yeah, I do.' And he said, 'You ain't got no million dollars.' He said, 'If you do got a millions dollars, you take it and bury it in the woods.' "
"And I said, 'Why bury my money in the woods?'" Murphy continued. "He said, 'The government will take it from you. So bury it.' And I said, 'But can't the government take your land?' And he said, 'But they won't know where the money is.' That's a true story. That's the kind of advice I used to get."
Murphy concluded by expressing that since he was a Hollywood anomaly as an entertainer in his early twenties, older stars didn't exactly have a blueprint for him.
"I was in uncharted waters," he said. "For Sidney and all those guys, when I showed up, it was something kind of new. They didn't have a reference for me."
