Eddie Murphy's Biggest Regret: Turning Down 80s Classic 'Ghostbusters'

Eddie Murphy Reveals The $229M 80s Classic He Regrets Turning Down By  Allison Hambrick Published 6 minutes ago

An avid comic book fan since she first read "Stan Lee's Soapbox," Allison Hambrick is your friendly neighborhood generalist writer. Journalism, editing, media production, copywriting—she does it all. From her very first blog post about Smallville as a primary schooler, Allison developed a passion for superheroes and the entertainment industry at large.

Majoring in writing and film at SCAD, Allison put her skills to work writing, editing, podcasting, and more. Currently, she moonlights as an editor at the ASHRAE Journal by day and Screen Rant by night. Allison also previously worked for Warner Bros. Entertainment and for Disney.

Through her writing, she hopes to inspire, to entertain, and to empower others to be the best versions of themselves, and her mission in life is to make Stan proud. In her free time, she enjoys reading, video game design, traveling, and spending time outside with her dogs, Loki and Elphaba. Allison is fluent in movie quotes, and her favorite film is Superman II.

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Recently, iconic comedian Eddie Murphy released a Netflix documentary, Being Eddie, chronicling his 40-plus years in the entertainment industry. From his Saturday Night Live beginnings to his expansive movie career, the film examines his life, and it features interviews with Murphy himself as well as the likes of Dave Chappelle, Arsenio Hall, John Landis, Jerry Seinfeld, Pete Davidson, Chris Rock, and more.

While promoting the documentary in an interview with the Associated Press, Murphy revealed one of his biggest career what-ifs. When asked what movie role he wishes he had accepted, the comedian immediately said, "Ghostbusters, I was supposed to do ‘Ghostbusters.'" Notably, he did not reveal which of the four lead roles he was originally slated to play.

“With ‘Ghostbusters,’ I did ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ instead... It was 'do this or that,' so it worked out cool," Murphy revealed. Beverly Hills Cop remains one of the actor's most notable franchises, with four installments so far and another in development. Likewise, Ghostbusters was a massive hit that established a multi-film franchise.

In addition to Ghostbusters, the Coming to America star listed Rush Hour and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? as films thar he regretted turning down. "Who Framed Roger Rabbit just sounded ridiculous to me, and I passed on it," said Murphy. "And afterwards, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s f*cking amazing.'"

When asked why he wished he hadn't passed on those roles, Murphy quipped, "They were huge, giant hit movies." Joking aside, he maintains that "those are [his] big three ‘wish [he] would have done’ movies.”

Ghostbusters 1984

Despite expressing regret for missing out on Ghostbusters, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and Rush Hour, Murphy recently revealed he wouldn't change a divisive entry in his filmography: Norbit. The film, which received an abysmal 9% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, has been widely speculated as the reason that he did not win Best Supporting Actor for his role as Jimmy "Thunder" Early in Dreamgirls.

“I love Norbit," Murphy said. "Norbit came out right after I got that Oscar nomination. There were articles like, ‘How can he get an Oscar [if] he did this?’ They’re two different movies. I wrote Norbit with my brother, Charlie, and we think Norbit is funny."

With a career as long and varied as Eddie Murphy's, it's no big surprise he would have regrets along the way, and having had time to reflect on even the low point in his career, might see them in a positive light. Being Eddie is available to stream on Netflix.

Headshot Of Eddie Murphy In The Los Angeles premiere of Amazon Prime Video's 'Candy Cane Lane' Follow Followed Eddie Murphy Birthdate April 3, 1961 Birthplace Brooklyn, New York, USA Notable Projects Shrek, Shrek 2, Mulan Height 5 feet 9 inches

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