Hollywood legend Eddie Murphy, 64, is proclaiming himself as the king of the action comedy genre.
Following his rise to prominence on the “Saturday Night Live” variety television show in the early 1980s, Murphy jumped to the silver screen for movies like 1982’s “48 Hrs.,” 1984’s “Beverly Hills Cop,” and 1988’s “Coming to America.”
Over 40 years later, Murphy plays the lead role in Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming “The Pickup” motion picture alongside Keke Palmer (“Nope”) and Pete Davidson (“Saturday Night Live”).
Murphy recently sat down with longtime “The Today Show” correspondent Al Roker to discuss his latest work and to reflect on the 2023 Cecil B. DeMille Award recipient’s legendary film career.
“It’s pretentious to actually say it, but my films kind of pioneered … ‘48 Hrs.’ is the first action comedy. And ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ was the second one,” Murphy told a laughing Roker, in the “Today” segment that aired on July 28.
The Brooklyn-born comedian then referenced fellow 1980s movie megastar Arnold Schwarzenegger by adding, “And then after ‘Beverly Hills Cop,” everybody, all the cops were like, ‘Hasta la vista, baby.’”
Schwarzenegger, 77, famously uttered the line “hasta la vista, baby” during his portrayal of the iconic titular character from the 1991 science-fiction classic “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”
Murphy’s bold proclamation that his breakout role during the President Ronald Regan era opened the door for future movies to meld action with comedy sparked reactions online.
“Eddie Murphy’s films changed the game, bringing a new flavor to action comedies that we still love today,” a person on TikTok declared.
One supporter wrote, “Pretentious??? He is so underrated and unappreciated.” In contrast, one detractor asserted, “It’s not pretentious, Eddie. It’s flat out wrong.”
A fourth person appreciated him staking his claim as a movie pioneer, by commenting, “It’s about time Eddie started saying who and what he has meant to the game.”
One TikTok user presented pushback, writing, “He means action comedy ‘cop’ movie, [because] if not then I disagree.” However, someone replied, “[‘48 Hrs’] was literally the first insanely successful action comedy of its kind.”
Another individual pointed out, “‘T2’ isn’t an action comedy or a cop movie.”
Schwarzenegger was more well known for starring in straightforward action movies like “Conan the Barbarian” in 1982, “The Terminator” in 1984, “Predator” in 1987, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” in 1991, and “The Expendables” in 2010.
The former governor of California delved into comedy with films like 1988’s “Twins” with Danny DeVito and 1990’s “Kindergarten Cop.” In 1993, Schwarzenegger embraced fantasy action comedy with “Last Action Hero.”
While Schwarzenegger and Murphy both dominated the 1980s box office in America, neither man acted together in a feature film. Murphy did admit Schwarzenegger provided inspiration for “Coming 2 America” — the sequel to one of his most cherished movies.
“You know what happened, I was watching one of those ‘Terminator’ movies with Schwarzenegger, and they used the special effect where they made him really young,” the “Party All the Time” singer explained to Yahoo in 2021.
Likely referring to 2015’s “Terminator: Genisys” sci-fi flick, Murphy also said, “I was like, ‘If they did that, we could do a scene where we’re young’ … and that was the piece that made it all sort of fall into place.”
Murphy’s stint as one of the biggest movie stars in the world began in the 1980s and continued into the next decade. His filmography also contains films such as 1992’s “Boomerang,” 1996’s “The Nutty Professor,” and 1998’s “Dr. Dolittle.”
After the turn of the millennium, Murphy became a central part of the highly-successful “Shrek” movie franchise by providing the voice for the animated Donkey character. He earned a Oscar nod for his turn in 2006’s “Dreamgirls.”
Murphy’s latest acting work takes place in the Tim Story-directed “The Pickup,” which premieres on August 6 on Amazon Prime Video. The father of ten children admitted he changed his approach to playing an action star in his 60s.
“I’m trying to do age-appropriate action,” Murphy stated in his interview with the 70-year-old Roker. “When you get our age, you have to pay. If you whip somebody’s ass, when you’re our age, you kind of whip your own ass, too.”
Murphy also confirmed he will be starring as George Clinton in a biopic about the Parliament-Funkadelic band frontman and as Inspector Clouseau in a new “Pink Panther” movie. “Shrek 5” is in the works as well.
Over the last 10 years Schwarzenegger appeared in “Terminator Genisys,” “Aftermath,” “Killing Gunther,” and “Terminator: Dark Fate.” The Austrian American has taken his talents to the small screen by leading Netflix’s “FUBAR” action-comedy television series for two seasons beginning in 2023.
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