Eddie Murphy has made a bold declaration with respect to his acclaimed career that only he is the actor in the history of Hollywood who has not auditioned for a movie role. The comedy emperor declared this during an interview where he spoke about his very first trial that to got him ‘Saturday Night Live’ at the age of 19. The audacious statement has given rise to a tough online debate concerning the actor’s image and z the notion of success in Hollywood.
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To be sure, let’s ponder on it for a second. Eddie Murphy, in the rejection-ridden world of headshots and cattle calls, just… never went through any of that. He was never a part of it and the non-tryout ’48 Hrs,’ ‘Beverly Hills Cop,’ and ‘Dreamgirls’ were all his. He called it “the biggest flex in the history of flexes.” And to be honest, he might have a point. Just visualize the scenario where some actor would be telling this to struggling actors. Murphy admitted to have done that at a SAG event a few years back. “You could kind of feel like, ‘this motherfucker,’” he laughed. “You could feel it.”
The announcement was revealed in a video clip of an interview, where Murphy is looking very much at ease and wearing a smile, and he appears to be quite conscious of the bombshell he is about to unleash. This is one of the rare occasions that the individual and the star power that is hard to find nowadays instantly and undeniably coalesce. He reached the pinnacle popularity with ‘SNL’ and the film industry at the same time in the early 80s, and Hollywood just kept cashing the checks.
The internet, of course, reacted in no uncertain terms. A sizable number of people were eager to declare the king. “Zero auditions, 100% icon, the math checks out. Legend,” said one user. “People really wrote movies with Eddie in mind, he is THAT guy and that’s some bragging rights there,” was another comment. The feeling of admiration was so great that a lot of people just called it “fantastic goat status from day one.”
On the other side, however, some were not so kind. The announcement was a great surprise to some, while others were skeptical and the same discussion of the value of his work came up again. A critic said, “Eddie Murphy sounds like he has had this huge acting career. He was in a few decent films thirty years ago, that’s all.” Somebody else even dared to speculate about the no-audition rule being a reason of him being “never rather taken serious as an actor,” implying that the smoothness of his path made a series of “predominantly bad movies.”
The reaction to the statement was immediate. Supporters pointed out the comparison of talents among stars of the 80s as the only rationale for limiting his artistic scope; he had the number one film, the leading comedy special and the most popular song at the same time. “He’s kinda the king when it comes to entertainment,” a fan remarked, thereby putting the argument in the context of history.
Not only the career evaluation, but also the questioning of Murphy’s claim provoked more human and simpler reactions. “How this nigga still look the same,” one person was astonished and commented on Murphy’s almost ageless look. Another said jokingly, “Why does he always look AI to me,” referring to his perpetually smooth character.
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Whether you think of him as the most extreme industry outsider or a comedian who played the system with ease, there is no doubt that the claim of Eddie Murphy is still there. It portrays a sight of a magnetically attractive and commercially secure talent, where the customary laws never applied. Murphy just… worked. Non-stop. For years. His career is a relic of a star from a different era; the era when one spectacular voice could open the place and it wouldn’t be locked again. We can still have heated debates about his artistic merits, but there is no doubt about the certainty of his unprecedented journey. The man constructed a vast empire without having to knock even one door.
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