Eddie Murphy Reveals the Oscar-Winning Movie Sidney Poitier Warned Him Not to Star In: 'You Are Not Denzel'
04/01/2025 06:48 PM
Eddie Murphy was warned by Sidney Poitier not to star in “Malcolm X.”
During an interview for Apple TV+’s "Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Men in Hollywood,” Murphy revealed he bumped into Poitier and brought up that he had been approached to play Alex Haley in the 1992 film when Norman Jewison was attached to the movie before Spike Lee took over. Poitier was so against it he talked Murphy out of the role.
"They were talking about doing 'Malcolm X,’" Murphy said. "Norman Jewison was putting it together. They were gonna use 'The Autobiography of Malcolm X' by Alex Haley. And they approached me about playing Alex Haley. Around that same time, I bumped into Sidney Poitier at something, and I asked him, 'Yeah, I'm thinking about playing Alex Haley!' And Sidney Poitier said, 'You are not Denzel [Washington], and you are not Morgan [Freeman]. You are a breath of fresh air, and don't f–k with that!’"
He continued, “"I didn't know if it was an insult or a compliment. I was like, 'What?’"
Murphy speculated the reason Poitier was so adamant for him to avoid the “Malcolm X” role was because he was “something kind of new.” He reasoned the actor was not sure how to advise the up-and-comer.
"They didn't have a reference for me, they couldn't give me advice, because I was 20, 21 years old, and my audience was the mainstream — all of everywhere,” Murphy said. “My movies [were] all around the world, and they had never had that with a young Black person. So nobody could give me advice, really. Everything broke really big and really fast.”
Washington went on to earn a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his role in “Malcolm X” after Lee took over.
“Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Men in Hollywood” is a two-part documentary project from director Reginald Hudlin (also behind the Oprah Winfrey-produced 2022 documentary on Poitier, “Sidney”). The Apple TV+ documentary charts the Hollywood history of boundary-breaking Black male actors like Poitier and Murphy and how they charted the path for Black actors working today.
The post Eddie Murphy Reveals the Oscar-Winning Movie Sidney Poitier Warned Him Not to Star In: ‘You Are Not Denzel’ appeared first on TheWrap.
