Netflix announced on Tuesday (Oct 14) that Being Eddie, a new documentary on iconic comedian and actor Eddie Murphy, is set to begin streaming on the platform on Wednesday, November 12.
The new documentary takes a look at Murphy’s extraordinary career journey from Saturday Night Live breakout to box-office titan. In this intimate portrait, the Oscar-nominated actor opens up his home and dives deep into his eclectic career of nearly 50 years.
Director Angus Wall, shared, “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. He has survived it all with grace. How did he do that? What guides him? We chase all of these questions with him.”
In the documentary, Murphy discusses entertaining three generations of fans with a filmography that spans comedy, action, drama, animation, musicals, and family fare. Friends, co-stars, directors, and fellow comics like Arsenio Hall, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Jamie Foxx, Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin Hart, Pete Davidson, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Tracy Morgan offer insight into Murphy’s singular life and career, and the influence that it has had on breakthrough stand-up films like Raw, ’80s megahits Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America, and Trading Places through ’90s classics like The Nutty Professor, the Shrek franchise in the 2000s to his Oscar-nominated performance in Dreamgirls.
“There’s a great clip of Eddie on a talk show early on in his career, talking about how he’s always been able to do impersonations and different voices. He talks about how his mom used to ask him ‘Who’s Eddie? What voice is Eddie’s voice?’ This movie answers that question,” Wall said. “Eddie has played a lot of different characters over the last 40 plus years, but he has never played himself on screen before. He opens up his world and his heart and I think people are going to really enjoy spending time with him.”