Eddie Murphy may play Richard Pryor, that’s the word from EW. Normally the idea of Eddie Murphy doing anything even remotely important or potentially good fills me with terror, but this particular movie is being helmed by writer/director Bill Condon who managed, if only for a brief moment, to transform Eddie Murphy into serious actor Edward Murphy for Dreamgirls. Maybe he can do it again for his Richard Pryor biopic. Maybe this will be the thing that gets Eddie away from crappy, fat suit cash-ins. Playing Andy Kaufman seemed to do that for Jim Carrey, maybe it can work for Eddie Murphy. Besides, Richard Pryor is his hero. Eddie’s going to be motivated, he’ll care, maybe enough not to fuck it up.
The project is called Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said?. Condon wrote the script, plans to direct it, and right now he’s shopping it to various studios looking for $25 million in backing, with Eddie Murphy attached to star. In particular, Fox Searchlight is said to be interested, which makes sense since their track record indicates they know a good idea when they see it.
