In a move sending shockwaves through the blogosphere (it’s a slow week), Academy Award–nominated actor Eddie Murphy told Extra last night he’s considering a retirement from film. “I have close to 50 movies and it’s like, why am I in the movies?†he said. “I’ve done that part now. I’ll go back to the stage and do stand-up.†It’s currently unclear what motivated his announcement (presumably the poor reception for his last twenty or so movies), but he did deny reports that he’s working on a Beverly Hills Cop 4 with Brett Ratner. “The third one was horrible, so I didn’t want to do another one,†he said, hilariously adding that he’d only done BHC3 for the money (“They said, ‘This is how much we’re going to pay you.’ I said, ‘Let’s go shoot it! I don’t care if the script ain’t right’â€).
Admittedly, we can’t remember the last time we actually liked an Eddie Murphy movie (Bowfinger maybe?), but wouldn’t it sort of be a bummer if he really did quit making them? Wouldn’t it be better if he just stopped wearing fat suits and farting? Now that he apparently realizes he’s been acting in stinkers for the past two decades, couldn’t he just throw his weight behind a decent script for once? Of course he could — he’s Gumby, dammit!
Eddie Murphy Retiring? [Extra via First Showing]