In the new trailer for the Netflix documentary Being Eddie, groundbreaking comedian and actor Eddie Murphy reflects on how his career took off, speculating that “they’d never seen a young Black person take charge.”
There’s no disputing Murphy took charge of the cultural zeitgeist in the early 1980s. He rose from a standup comic to a bona fide movie star with hits like 48 Hours and Beverly Hills Cop, and has stayed in the mainstream for the better part of four decades. This documentary promises to “offer insight into Murphy’s singular life and career,” tracing his Saturday Night Live breakout, standup specials like Raw, his ’80s blockbuster run, and later franchises The Nutty Professor and Shrek.
Alongside Murphy’s own commentary, Being Eddie features peers such as Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kevin Hart, and Jerry Seinfeld. “He went from the Raw guy to the family guy,” Ross says in the trailer, while Rock calls Murphy “one of the greatest ever.” Toward the end of the clip, Murphy offers some sage advice: “Pursue peace of mind. If you get that, then you got it all.”
“There is no one else like him. Nobody. He’s been famous longer than just about anyone alive, and he’s never lost who he is,” director and two-time Oscar winner Angus Wall (The Social Network, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) told Netflix’s Tudum. “He has survived it all with grace. How did he do that? What guides him? We chase all of these questions with him.”
Netflix has set the premiere of Being Eddie for November 12th.
