Eddie Murphy has no regrets about doing the movie many believe cost him an Oscar, telling Complex, “The s--t ain’t that bad.”
Murphy was asked in the new interview to name his best films, but struggled to choose as “I had a lot of joints that worked.” It was easier to name the ones that didn’t work, he said, citing Pluto Nash and Holy Man.
Then the conversation inevitably turned to the 2007 comedy Norbit. “I love Norbit,” Murphy said, “Norbit came out right after I got the Oscar nomination” for Best Supporting Actor in Dreamgirls.
“There were articles that were like, ‘How can he get an Oscar and he did this?’” he laughed. “It’s two different movies,” he said in his own defense. Murphy was considered the frontrunner in the Oscars race that year until Norbit was released in February.
His crude portrayal of main character Rasputia drew backlash as protestors found the film offensive to obese women. Others felt it just wasn’t a good movie. Critics rated it a paltry nine percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Murphy said he remains unfazed, chalking up the response to people “hating.”
“To this day, I like Norbit. It’s the stuff in Norbit that makes me laugh,” he said, recalling that he’d written the film with his late brother Charlie Murphy. “When it came out, I got voted for Razzies for Worst Actor of the Decade, Worst Actor, and Worst Actress. I was like, c’mon now. The s--t ain’t that bad.”
The 2007 Best Supporting Actor Oscar ended up going to Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine.
As for his future Oscar chances, Murphy joked in another interview with Sky News released Friday that he believes he’ll be old and gray before he ever gets his hands on one.
“One day, they’ll give me one of those honorary Oscars. When I’m really old. And I’ll say thank you so much for this wonderful honour. I’ll be old like that and I’ll have no teeth. I’m cool with getting my honorary Oscar when I’m 90,” he joked. He also told the outlet that awards weren’t something he was interested in anyway, as his most successful films are “timeless and they’re special, so for years and years those movies play and the movies have commercial success.”
He explained, “So you make a lot of money and people love it, so you don’t even think about ‘I didn’t win a trophy!’ The response from the people and that the movie has legs, that’s the trophy.”
