That ‘Nutty’ Eddie Murphy

Nobody can out-nerd Jerry Lewis, Eddie Murphy figured, so he came up with his own take on the remake of Lewis’ 1963 classic, “The Nutty Professor,” which Imagine Films will produce for Universal Pictures later this year.

In the original slapstick comedy, which Lewis wrote, directed and produced as well as starred in, the actor played a goofy, bucktoothed professor who transforms into a swaggering lady killer named Buddy Love after gulping down a magic potion. The remake, which will be Murphy’s first film after “Beverly Hills Cop III,” being released May 25, will feature Murphy as Sherman Clump (the last name reflecting his lumbering physical presence) as a 400-pound chemistry professor, who, as producer and Imagine co-chairman Brian Grazer puts it, becomes a “heightened version of Elvis,” when he drinks a potion that makes him thin.

“Our movie is about obesity,” said Murphy in a phone interview from his New Jersey home, where he lives with his wife, Nicole, their 4-year-old daughter, Bria, and 1 1/2-year-old son, Miles. “America is obsessed with weight--you have to look a certain way.”

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Murphy says he plans to begin production on the film in September, after a six-week tour this summer in Japan with his band, Psychedelic Soul. He says he hopes John Landis, his collaborator on “Beverly Hills Cop III” and his past hits “Coming to America” and “Trading Places,” will direct him in the comedy remake. Landis is very much interested in directing, says Grazer (who will produce with rap impresario Russell Simmons), but no deal has yet been made.

Landis and Murphy reportedly butted heads on “Coming to America,” but they patched up differences before their latest “Cop” outing for Paramount.

“We never had one problem on ‘Beverly Hills Cop III’--I’m a man now,” says the 33-year-old Murphy, who first worked with Landis on 1983’s “Trading Places.”

Industry watchers are undoubtedly curious to see whether this movie or “Cop III” will help boost Murphy’s sagging popularity on the big screen. Grazer, who produced Murphy’s 1992 comedy, “Boomerang,” is convinced “The Nutty Professor” “will allow audiences to rediscover his comic talent.” The producer suggests “the only way to do that is have him play a character that is vulnerable.”

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Murphy stressed that his version is not a strict remake, but combines elements of the original with parts of the classic Jekyll & Hyde and Cyrano de Bergerac stories.

“ ‘The Nutty Professor’ is the skeleton of the script,” Murphy said, “and we stripped down the story to its bare bones and built it up to this whole different thing.” Where Lewis’ portrayal was a caricature of a goofy guy, Murphy said, his character will, he hopes, be someone moviegoers can feel compassion for.

“I just want to get the audience pulled in,” says Murphy, stressing that while “there will be fat jokes at every turn, our movie is not a (put-down) of fat people.”

Instead, the screenplay--the work of Murphy, Barry Blaustein and David Sheffield--will examine “how being obese is like having any other kind of handicap.” It addresses how obese people look at themselves and are treated by others.

Murphy describes the newly suave Buddy Love as “the opposite of the kind, gentle, lovable Sherman Clump.” One of the ingredients Clump adds to his secret potion is testosterone. “The more he adds, the bigger and bigger macho (expletive) he becomes.”

Grazer suggests there’s another side to Buddy Love. “He’s a wish-fulfillment character who gets even with people who are insensitive and make fun of Sherman.” However, the producer notes, “When Sherman comes back as Buddy Love--the slickest cat in town--he exercises his power, then becomes sort of abrasive and you wish he’d go back to being Clump, a decent guy.”

The producer believes that audiences will respond positively to Murphy playing a vulnerable role as the 400-pound Clump because “it strips away Eddie’s coolness for a while and is a role that allows him not to be in control or powerful in the beginning.”

In addition to the two split-personality roles, Murphy will also play as many as five other characters, as he did in “Coming to America.” The other intended characters are a white Richard Simmons-type aerobics teacher, a mean-spirited stand-up comic who makes fun of Sherman, a salesman in a big and tall shop, and either Sherman’s mom or dad, or both.

Murphy says the number of characters he ends up playing will depend on the movie’s final budget, which sources said is expected to be no less than $40 million. Sources said Murphy, who reportedly received $15 million for “Cop III,” (this is his fee for all sequels) will collect $12 million for this film.

Murphy said the most attractive element of the movie is “being able to lose myself--I’m never Eddie Murphy.” By contrast, he said, his “Beverly Hills Cop” character, the fast-talking Axel Foley, “is the closest you’ll get to me--that’s Eddie.”

Years ago, Murphy said he was approached about playing the nutty professor, but “couldn’t see myself doing it.” It wasn’t until he came up with his own take on the character that he decided to pursue the role; when he found out that Grazer had the rights, he called immediately.

Grazer had already decided he wanted to make the film after Russell Simmons had suggested he do a remake of it with a black lead. Simmons had taken Grazer to a New York nightclub where “The Nutty Professor” was one of the classic movies being shown, which convinced the producer there was strong crossover potential since there was a cult following for the film among hip club-goers.

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Grazer then went in pursuit of the rights, which were owned by Jerry Lewis, to whom the copyright had reverted from Paramount, 10 years after the original film was released. He then discovered Lewis had been negotiating with Disney, reportedly to do a “Nutty Professor” sequel himself. No deal materialized.

The producer approached Universal, where Imagine has a long-term financing/distribution deal, and persuaded the studio to acquire the rights, which it did within 24 hours. Three days later, Murphy called Grazer and said he wanted to do the film.

Contractually, Lewis--who is shooting a movie in London and was unavailable for comment--is guaranteed a supporting role in the movie and an executive producer credit. Murphy assures that while the remake will differ from the original, “it’s like an homage to Jerry and how brilliant he was.”

As for his own career trajectory, Murphy acknowledges that his first few movies “started out in the freak zone.”

“I was lucky,” he said. “I was in the right place at the right time. But I’m an artist. If a movie makes 10 cents or $300 million, it has nothing to do with my choice of films.”

Murphy said he views himself as a multifaceted performer with equal ambitions in music and stand-up comedy (he has released two comedy albums and will release his fourth musical album in September). After “The Nutty Professor,” he plans next January to star in Paramount’s “Vampire in Brooklyn,” to be directed by Wes Craven, then “go back to the clubs and start working on my stand-up because in two years I want to do stand-up and music.”