Eddie Murphy dons prosthetics galore for his latest film, Norbit, in which he plays multiple characters Rasputia, Mr Wong and a nerdy wimp. Having written, acted and produced the film, Virgin Media met up with Eddie who shared his experiences of what it’s like to spend your days encased in a rubber suit...
VM: How did fat gargoyle of a character Rasputia get her talons into Norbit?
Eddie Murphy: Rasputia is an overbearing, abusive wife and Norbit is kind of like a passive, gentle guy who Rasputia has under her thumb. She controls every aspect of her husband’s life. Norbit and Rasputia meet in the sandbox, literally, when he’s a little boy, and from day one she’s like, “You’re gonna be my boyfriend!” And she makes him be her boyfriend all through school. She takes over his life from childhood.
VM: Why did you co-write the script with your brother Charles?
EM: My brother’s been writing scripts for years, and he got heat off (Dave) Chapelle’s Show. I was like, “What the hey, let’s write something together - you’re this hot writer now!” So my brother and I wrote this thing about a battered husband.
VM: Does Norbit represent a return to your Nutty Professor phase?
EM: I wanted to do something a little edgy because I’d been doing a lot of family and kids movies; Shrek, Daddy Daycare, Haunted Mansion - cute films. But people were coming to me asking, “Hey, when you gonna do standup? When you gonna do the Eddie Murphy movie with a little uhu?” So we said okay - that’s what they’ve been waiting on, and that’s what I’ve been wanting to do for a while.
VM: You suffered 75 days in the make-up chair... how did you cope?
EM: The cool thing about this project was the opportunity to juggle multiple characters; I like doing make-up movies for the simple fact that when I put on make-up, I get to go to some whole other place…”make me an old lady!” If I’m an old Jewish guy, an old Asian guy, or Sherman Clump that takes me away from this skin, opens me up to different possibilities, and I love that.
VM: What was it like working with special make-up effects legend Rick Baker?
EM: Well, Rick did Coming To America with me years ago and I feel comfortable working with him doing these characters. What he brings to it makes characters come to life. They’re like real people. I’ve seen other people do make-up movies and some of them are funny, but Rick Baker brings nuances, small differences. You forget it’s make-up, you feel like it’s a real person you’re looking at like, “God, look at Mr. Wong, I can’t believe it!” He’s brilliant.
VM: And you cast big comedy names in supporting roles?
EM: We had a bunch of roles in the movie that we wanted to cast with funny people. We got Eddie Griffin and Katt Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr, and we got Marlon Wayans to play the aerobics instructor, he’s hysterical.
VM: Marlon’s character Buster is disturbing - is he based on anyone?
EM: Power Tap is what Marlon’s character teaches. It’s kinda like when that fitness guy Billy Blanks did Tae Bo. He was mixing Karate with, you know, aerobics. This guy Buster, he’s a local guy who mixes tap dancing with aerobics and it’s called Power Tap, so he makes his students tap dance real hard to lose weight. It’s very funny visually and sounds funny too. And Rasputia is in that class to lose weight and she starts flirting with Marlon and they have a heated affair... he pounds her out and Norbit catches them!
9th March 2007
