Recalling the work on “Coming to America”, Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall released new details about the casting process for their 1988 comedy classic.
When TV presenter Jimmy Kimmel asked them on Monday about the comedy Louie Anderson’s involvement in the franchise, Murphy and Hall revealed that Anderson was chosen because Paramount Pictures insisted on including a white actor in the cast. In the film, Anderson plays Maurice, an employee at a McDowell’s fast-food restaurant.
“I love Louie, but I think we were forced to put Louie on it,” said Hall in “Jimmy Kimmel Live”. “We were forced to put a white person.”
“[T]the whole cast is black – and that was in the 1980s – so [Paramount] it was like, ‘We have to have a white person! There has to be a white person in the film, ”added Murphy. “So it was, ‘Who’s the funniest white guy there is?’ And Louie, we knew him. We were fine with him. So that’s how Louie got into the movie. “
According to Hall, Paramount presented them with a list of three white artists and said, “Who do you prefer to work with?” Asked by Kimmel if he remembered the other two options, Hall laughed and said, “Ah, yes. But I can’t say. “
On February 24, Anderson responded to a similar anecdote that Murphy shared with NBC’s “Today” program.
“Wait what?” he tweeted, suggesting that he was discovering the truth behind his cast for the first time – or telling a dry joke about it.
Anderson appears again alongside the comedy duo in the long-awaited sequel, “Coming 2 America”, for which Murphy and Hall reprized their beloved roles as Prince Akeem and Semmi, respectively.
New to the royal saga are comedians Leslie Jones and Tracy Morgan, who was originally cast in the sequel as the son of Prince Akeem before it was decided that Morgan, 52, was too old to play the on-screen son of Murphy, 59.
“We wrote two, three versions of the script and then we started thinking … ‘Will people believe that Tracy is me and Leslie’s daughter?” Murphy said. “He seems to be our age. And then we started to think about it differently. “
“And Jimmy, I would give you tips because I never liked that idea,” added Hall. “I love Tracy. I wanted him on that. But I would say to Eddie, ‘Hey, maybe for the third, Morgan Freeman could be your son.’ “
Kimmel also teased Hall about his season on “The Celebrity Apprentice”, asking if he was still in contact with his “celebrity mentor”, Donald Trump. (In 2012, Hall won the fifth season of the reality show.)
“We didn’t talk much,” Hall joked, before remembering when Trump “got mad” because he was not supposed to mention the former president in an interview.
“He took the interview and wrote, in Sharpie, ‘No Trump’, and he photographed it and sent it back to me,” said Hall. “The strangest broadcast I’ve ever had.”
“That’s what I wrote on my November ballot, actually,” joked Kimmel.
“Coming 2 America” opens Friday on Amazon Prime Video.