For Eddie Murphy and his daughter, Bella Murphy, Coming 2 America was a fun family affair. The actors shared the screen for the long-awaited comedy sequel, and the pair opened up to ET about what it was like working together.
Speaking with ET’s Nischelle Turner, Eddie explained that he has a rule for his kids, which was namely that they can’t start acting until they come of age.
“I told her that she couldn’t work until she was 18, but she started acting lessons, she was doing an acting school and stuff for maybe two years before that,” the actor and proud dad recalled. “The role was her age, it was somebody her age, so I was like, ‘Mmkay, this is your age, you can go up for this.’ So she auditioned for it and got the part.”
“I was very nervous,” Bella admitted. “You know, I didn’t want people to, you know, think that I was just doing this because I can or you know, I didn’t want people to watch it and be like, ‘Oh, that’s his daughter because she can’t keep up with everyone,’ you know?”
“I wanted my performance to be really good and I wanted to go in and do the best that I could,” she added.
Coming 2 America serves as the 19-year-old actress’ big screen debut, and she jokingly recalled how an on-set mishap during a fight scene almost got her grounded.
“There’s actually a moment where I came down with my bow staff and I was supposed to whack my dad and he was, like, blocking, but the way I came down was way too close to his knuckles,” she shared. “I saw his life flash before his eyes and we were just frozen there and I was like, ‘What’s about to happen?’ And [director] Craig [Brewer] yelled cut and after my dad was like, ‘You’re grounded!'”
While she didn’t actually end up grounded, the fight scene was tense for the young actress due to her proximity to other major stars as well.
“I was afraid I was gonna hit [Wesley Snipes], because he’s right next to me and I don’t want to hit Wesley Snipes in the head with a stick in between filming, you know?” she said with a laugh. “It was my first movie and I don’t wanna do that.”
'Coming 2 America' Trailer No. 1
'Coming 2 America' Trailer No. 1
With her first movie under her belt, Bella admits the experience is a little bittersweet because she wishes she could still be filming the project.
“If I could go back and redo it I would because it was just so much fun,” she shared. “So I’m happy that it’s done, but I’m also kind of sad that it’s done.”
The long-awaited sequel is coming out over three decades after the original, which is regarded by many to be one of the best comedies of Eddie’s career. However, the legendary comedian says that getting to make the project on his own terms made it easier and more fun.
“There was no pressure because when we decided we were gonna make the movie, we had worked on the script for four years, and we had the script right,” he shared. “So once the script is right, you know, there’s no pressure.”
“The closest thing to pressure is, like, on Twitter, when somebody says, ‘Don’t you f**k up our movie!” he added. “I think everybody’s gonna like the movie, but the people that really like Coming to America, that were worried and hoping that we didn’t mess it up, I think those people are gonna like it the most.”
Coming 2 America — co-starring Arsenio Hall, Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, James Earl Jones, KiKi Layne, Shari Headley and Teyana Taylor — debuts exclusively on Amazon Prime Video on March 5.
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