Earlier this year, Eddie Murphy announced that he would be playing Inspector Clouseau, the bumbling French detective first portrayed by Peter Sellers in 1963, in an upcoming Pink Panther remake. It’s an idea that makes perfect sense on paper, seeing as how Murphy had a lot of success remaking another beloved 1963 comedy: Jerry Lewis’s The Nutty Professor. The Pink Panther film is one of several on Eddie’s agenda at the moment, with Shrek 5 and a George Clinton biopic also in the works. But there’s another project that he’s been hoping to get off the ground on top of that, and as fate would have it, it would also be a remake of a famous comedy from—you guessed it—1963.
Speaking to ET in 2024, Murphy expressed his desire to reunite onscreen with his Boomerang and Life co-star (and new in-law) Martin Lawrence. The plan is to do a modern version of the epic 1963 Stanley Kramer comedy It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. It’s one of Eddie’s all-time favorite movies, and he’s been working on it for a long time, along with Ford v Ferrari writer Jez Butterworth. Furthermore, he said he wants everyone funny over the past 30 years to be part of it.
He elaborated on the ambitious idea on The Jennifer Hudson Show this past May, saying he envisioned it as “a who’s who of Black comics.” In fairness, if anybody were capable of pulling something like that off, Eddie Murphy would be the guy. He famously brought together stand-up icons Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx for his directorial debut, Harlem Nights, in 1989. eagle-eyed fans will have noticed his knack for casting up-and-coming comedians over the years, with Damon Wayans, Chris Rock, and Dave Chappelle all making appearances in Murphy’s movies at early stages in their careers.
The original version of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World was a veritable who’s who of comedians from the first half of the 20th century. A comedy Expendables of its time, it stars Spencer Tracy and a long list of long-dead funny people like Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Jonathan Winters, and Phil Silvers. With a runtime of over 3 hours (depending on the cut), the story follows a group of strangers who rush to dig up a suitcase of stolen money before anyone else can get to it. Along the way, even more famous comics pop up in memorable cameos, from Jack Benny to Don Knotts to Buster Keaton to The Three Stooges, among many others.
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