FRANCE/ UNITED KINGDOM: EDDY MURPHY SPEAKS ABOUT HIS LATEST ROLE IN 'THE NUTTY PROFESSOR'

Record ID: 336560

  • Title: FRANCE/ UNITED KINGDOM: EDDY MURPHY SPEAKS ABOUT HIS LATEST ROLE IN 'THE NUTTY PROFESSOR'
  • Date: 1st September 1996
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (SEPTEMBER 6) (RTV) MURPHY SAYING WHEN PEOPLE SEE ME THEY HAVE AN EXPECTATION (DOES HIS CHARACTERISTIC LAUGH). WHEN I PUT THIS MAKEUP ON THE PHYSICAL IS GONE AND I CAN GO IN ANY NEW DIRECTION SO IT FREES ME UP. THE SITTING IN THE CHAIR IS WORTH IT BECAUSE IT FREES ME UP AS ACTOR
  • Embargoed: 16th September 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: DEAUVILLE, FRANCE AND LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • City:
  • Country: United Kingdom France
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA4RFN0D13QB5IKM1YS4RGXAUP
  • Story Text: Comedian Eddie Murphy has taken his latest film "The Nutty Professor" to the Deauville Film Festival in France, restoring the actor's fading name abroad.

    The film took 3.3 million U.S. dollars in its European opening, creating a record for a Murphy film.

    Speaking in London on Friday (September 6) about the numerous roles he plays in the film, Murphy says enduring up to six hours of makeup a day was worth the trouble.

    "When I put the makeup on, the physical is gone and I can go in any direction," he said. "It frees me up." Murphy takes on a total of seven roles in "The Nutty Professor", a remake of the film Jerry Lewis made a classic.

    He plays Professor Herman Klump, an overweight, sensitive and brilliant scientist who finds his weight constantly getting in the way of his professional, home and love life.

    In a contemporary twist on the Jekyll and Hyde tale, Klump invents a revolutionary fate gene formula. Testing it on himself, he discovers he's no longer the man he used to be. In fact, he's only half the man he used to be.

    With one swig of the potion, the gentle, shy academic is transformed into the swaggering Casanova Buddy Love, an irrestible ladies' man who can talk his way out of any predicament.

    Murphy also plays four members of his dysfunctional family and weight-loss guru Lance Perkins, supposedly based on real life fitness expert Richard Simmons.

    Using special effects, Murphy winds up in several scenes playing more than one character at the same time.

    This involves filming the scene with Murphy in one character's makeup, waiting until he changed costume and makeup and shooting it again in the other role.
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