Eddie and Arsenio on ‘Coming 2 America’
The Clown Princes discuss the long-awaited sequel.
There was a time when Eddie Murphy ruled the multiplex like a king — or at least a prince.
In the 1980s, he capped off a series of comedy blockbusters (“48 Hrs.,” “Trading Places,” “Beverly Hills Cop”) and stand-up sets (“Raw”) with “Coming to America.” That 1988 film cast Murphy as Prince Akeem, the wealthy potentate of the fictional African nation of Zamunda, who travels incognito to New York with his faithful attendant, Semmi (Arsenio Hall), in search of a woman who will love him for himself.
“Coming to America,” directed by John Landis, was propelled by his chemistry with Hall and their aptitude for playing countless other characters, including an unctuous reverend (Hall), a mediocre soul singer (Murphy) and the squabbling denizens of a local barber shop (Murphy, Hall and Murphy).
Murphyhashadmanycareerhighs and lows since, although he has lately been on an upswing that includes his hit 2019 biopic, “Dolemite Is My Name.” And now he’s returning to Zamunda in a long-awaited sequel, “Coming 2 America,” which Amazon will release Friday, March 5.
The follow-up, directed by Craig Brewer, finds an older Akeem reckoning with a grown daughter (played by KiKi Layne) who wants her own opportunity to rule the kingdom. He rushes back to New York with Semmi after learning that he fathered a son ( Jermaine Fowler) there on his original visit. Murphy and Hall reprise several of their supporting characters, joined by “Coming to America” alumni James Earl Jones, Shari Headley and John Amos, as well as franchise newcomers such as Wesley Snipes, Tracy Morgan and Leslie Jones.
The making of “Coming to America” and its sequel is a story that spans the real-life friendship of Murphy and Hall, from their first encounter as stand-up comics to the present day. Murphy and Hall got together recently for a video interview to talk about the creation of “Coming 2 America.”
These are edited excerpts from that conversation.
Q: How did you first meet?
EDDIE MURPHY: When we started doing comedy, there may have been, like, 10 Black comics in all of the country, so everybody knew each other. Comics are very cliquish, so you get in a clique with the people you think are funny. Of the 10 Black comics, there were four or five that I never became friends with. When I came out here (to Los Angeles), I met Arsenio through Keenen (Ivory Wayans).
ARSENIO HALL: We’re standing in front of the Improv, Keenen introduces me, I shake Eddie’s hand and we talk for a while and then coming down the street is Damon Wayans. But I had never met him. Keenen introduces us to Damon and he’s doing that character that Eddie let him do eventually in “Beverly Hills Cop,” the hotel guy. It was so convincing, I didn’t laugh because I didn’t know whether it was real. But that’s how he got the role in “Cop” 1.
(Laughter)
Q: Eddie, what got you interested in the idea of seeing America and New York through the eyes of this African prince, Akeem?
MURPHY: This was at the height of when I first got in the business. I was on tour and had just broke up with a girlfriend, and a conversation started on the tour bus about wanting to meet a girl that didn’t know I was this dude and just liked me for me.
Q: Your careers went in very different directions after “Coming to America.” Did that make it difficult to remain in each other’s lives?
MURPHY: There’s never been a period where we haven’t been friends.
HALL: We can share different experiences. Part of it is being comfortable with who you are and knowing who you are. I’m a stand-up comic and a guy who does TV. Eddie is a movie star. But we share with each other because the bottom line is we’re both comfortable in our own skin.
Q: What’s something that’s different about the two of you?
HALL: I’m here ’cause I’m broke — he’s here ’cause he’s good.
MURPHY: I don’t see myself as a movie star or a comedian or any of those things. I see myself as an artist. And I feel like there’s a bunch of different ways I can express myself.
HALL: You can pop by Eddie’s, and he’ll play a song for you. And
(Laughter)
you can’t even believe, wait, that’s you on guitar? That’s you singing? You wrote and produced this track? And that’s what he does for fun. For him it’s like crocheting a hat.
MURPHY: I have so many tracks and collaborations with people — Michael ( Jackson), El DeBarge — all these people I’ve been in the studio with over the years and never finished it or never released it.
HALL: He does so many things. He does them as well as anybody else. He’s a beast. It’s hard to deal with.
Q: What took you so long to make a sequel to “Coming to America”?
MURPHY:Weneverthoughtabout doing a sequel. The way the story ended was kind of like, “And they lived happily ever after.” Then all this time passed and the movie became this cult thing. Catchphrases from the movie start working their way into the culture. Stores turning themselves into McDowell’s. I see Beyoncé and Jay-Z dressed up like the Zamunda characters for Halloween.
Then Ryan Coogler, before he directed “Black Panther,” I meet with him and he says, I want to do a “Coming to America” sequel. He had an idea for Michael B. Jordan to play my son and he would be looking for a wife. I was like, then the movie would be about the son, it’s not our characters, we already did that. It didn’t come together.
But all that made me start thinking, maybe we should do a sequel. I saw the “Terminator” movie where they made Arnold Schwarzenegger young — his face looked like Arnold, but young — and that’s where I got it. If we use that to make us young and create a new scene in the club (from the original “Coming to America”) where we’re out looking for the girls, so it’s part of that night. I go home with a girl and I’m high — that was the piece we needed to start the flow.
HALL: I never thought about it because we had always said we’re going to leave “Coming to America” where it is. But I text him sometimes when I do my coffee run in the morning, and he says, “What are you doing? I think you should read this script now.” And I read half of it sitting in his yard. It was so exciting and so good.
(Snaps fingers)