Marlon Wayans to play Richard Pryor; Eddie Murphy out

in Movies by griffn — October 9, 2009 at 8:00 am | 2 comments

According to Hitfix:

Last February, it appeared as though Eddie Murphy would reunite with his “Dreamgirls” director Bill Condon to bring the life story of legendary comedian Richard Pryor on the big screen.  To put it bluntly, things have changed.  Condon is still moving forward with “Richard Pryor,” but Murphy is out and so are potential distributors Paramount Pictures and Fox Searchlight.  Instead, HitFix can confirm that Marlon Wayans has auditioned and is now in negotiations to play the iconic entertainment figure.  Additionally, the film will now be produced by Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison productions at Sony Pictures.

Marlons, who is best known for his not-so serious roles in “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” and the “Scary Movie” series, impressed producers and executives with his dramatic audition featuring two scenes directly from the film.  Condon shot the screen tests similarly to the Beyonce Knowles audition for “Dreamgirls” which was later available on the movie’s DVD.  Unlike Knowles however, Wayans is no newcomer to challenging material having earned raves for his work in Darren Aronofsky’s “Requiem for a Dream” and the Coen Brothers’ “The Ladykillers.”

Ta-Nehisi Coates wanted to see Eddie Murphy give the role a shot, while Evan Narcisse is worried that Marlon Wayans will be in over his head.  But I actually think casting Marlon Wayans is a fantastic turn of events for this film.  First of all, Eddie Murphy looks nothing like Richard Pryor.  Sorry, that’s a big deal for me.  I realize Denzel looked little like Malcolm X, but it was close enough, and Denzel had the chops to make us forget all that after five minutes.  Eddie doesn’t.

Second, the sight of Murphy back onstage doing stand-up– even disguised in Pryor’s trademark mustache and fro– would have had me thinking way more about Raw and Delirious than Live on the Sunset Strip.  To have one stand-up comedy great play another would have been too close to home.  It’d be like watching Kobe Bryant play the title role in The Michael Jordan Story.  As soon as you saw Kobe dribbling down the court– shaved head or not– you’d be like, “That ain’t M.J., that’s Kobe.”

But most of all, Marlon Wayans just feels right for this role.  I can definitely see him nailing the screen test.  The aforementioned Requiem for a Dream (which I’ve seen) and The Ladykillers (which I haven’t) prove that he’s a talented enough actor to do it.  He looks and sounds enough like Pryor to make it work and work well.

My concern though is that the movie just won’t be that good.  Pryor’s life doesn’t seem to me to be the right material for a screen adaptation.  I’d rather just watch him tell it in his stand-up routines.  I imagine a scene with him arguing with his wife and shooting the car, another scene with him setting himself on fire, battling with drugs, going to Africa, divorcing one woman, marrying another.  Okay, but where’s the arc?  And how do you make audiences who aren’t that familiar with Richard Pryor interested in his life story?  Come to think of it, I can’t think of one movie biopic about a comedian that was successful artistically or commercially.  Jim Carrey’s Man on the Moon (the Andy Kaufman biopic) was God-awful.

My other concern is the talent behind the scenes.  The film would have been better off with Paramount/Fox Searchlight than it will be with Adam Sandler’s production company.  Paramount/Fox is good at putting out these types of studio-backed faux-independent dramas.  Director/writer Bill Condon also throws up some red flags for me.  He won an Oscar for Gods and Monsters (which I haven’t seen).  Okay, but he also wrote/directed the biopic Kinsey and the film adaptation of Dreamgirls, both of which I found to be not that good.  Then you add in the behind-the-scenes talent of producers Adam Sandler and Chris Rock, neither of whom is responsible for any great dramatic film work (or comedic film work for that matter) on either side of the screen.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m glad they’re giving Pryor’s life a shot– excited even.  It’ll most likely flop commercially, but with a good script and a strong performance from Wayans, it’ll be an important piece of work for Pryor’s fans.

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3. Miley Cyrus…as Batgirl?
4. Sure, go see G.I. Joe, but it will suck.

Tags: Adam Sandler Bill Condon Chris Rock Denzel Washington eddie murphy Evan Narcisse malcolm x Marlon Wayans Richard Pryor Ta-Nehisi Coates