If you’ll recall, TOWER HEIST was to originally be a sort of “black OCEAN’S ELEVEN”, a film that Eddie Murphy was very gung-ho about bringing to the big screen and that would’ve featured a who’s who cast of black comedians. Then a bunch of honkeys like Ben Stiller and Matthew Broderick got involved and Murphy wound up becoming the sole black star of the film.
But an ensemble of black funnymen headed by Murphy may still be in our future. Here’s an excerpt of an interview he gave this month to Rolling Stone:
“I still want to do something like that,” Murphy says, adding that he had Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Tracey Morgan and Martin Lawrence all lined up for that first incarnation of TOWER HEIST. “I have this idea called JAMAL AND TYRELL AND OMAR AND BRICK AND MICHAEL’S WACK-ASS WEEKEND about this group of guys who get abducted by aliens on the way to the fights. I’m writing that now.”
If Murphy can bring Dave Chappelle back among the living and actually make that the film’s official title, then I will be SO on board with this. Hey, what can I say? I still think Murphy’s got another great one in him.
TOWER HEIST (which I hear isn’t terrible) opens November 4th.
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