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He’s played donkeys, he’s played princes, and now he’ll play the most hilariously inept French crimefighter in cinema history. While promoting his new movie “The Pickup” on Today, Eddie Murphy revealed he would play Inspector Clouseau in the upcoming reboot of “The Pink Panther.”
While talking about some of his upcoming projects, Murphy said, “And I’m going to be — I’m Inspector Clouseau in the next ‘Pink Panther.’ Yeah, I’m the new Clouseau.”
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When Today co-host Al Roker asked Murphy if he would be playing Clouseau as French, Murphy answered, “Maybe. Well, he has to be French, but he could also be Haitian. I will tell you, he’s Black. He’s Black, for sure.”
The last actor to play the bumbling Inspector Clouseau on the big screen was Steve Martin; first in 2006’s “The Pink Panther” and later in 2009’s “The Pink Panther 2.”
But it was the late Peter Sellers who originated the role in 1963’s “The Pink Panther” and went on to play the character in the five sequels that followed.
The week may have barely started but it’s already been a busy week when it comes to Murphy announcing new and upcoming projects.
During the same discussion on Today, Murphy revealed he’s started production on “Shrek 5,” and that he’ll be playing George Clinton in a biopic about the funk legend.
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Speaking of “Shrek,” on Sunday, Murphy let slip that his own “Shrek” character will be getting his own spinoff.
Asked about how far along “Shrek 5” production was by ScreenRant, Murphy said, “We’re still in the booth, and literally, we’re still doing ‘Shrek.’ We start in September on ‘Donkey,’ we’re doing a Donkey one, and that’ll be three years from now, but we’re about two years into ‘Shrek 5.’ Still in the booth and about to start ‘Donkey’ in September.
Murphy added, “‘Donkey’s going to be like how Puss in Boots had his own movie, Donkey’s going to have his own movie, own little story with his dragon wife and his kids that are half-dragon and half-donkeys.”
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