This Eddie Murphy Flop Made Him Quit Directing Forever
Eddie Murphy has made some legendary movies. He's also made The Adventures of Pluto Nash — a box office black hole that cost $100 million and clawed back just $7.1 million. But if you're thinking that was the one Murphy regrets most, think again.
Nope. The movie he really wishes he hadn't touched is Harlem Nights — the one he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in back in 1989.
In theory, it had everything going for it: Eddie Murphy at the height of his fame, plus Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Danny Aiello — all set in a stylized Prohibition-era Harlem. In practice? Total headache.
Murphy later admitted he only made the movie because everyone else was doing the whole "directing your own film" thing. In his words to The New York Times:
"All my peers started doing movies where they were directing and producing and starring. So I said, let me see what it's like. And I didn't dig it and I hated doing it throughout the whole trip, and it affected my performance."
The critics noticed. The Razzies handed him Worst Screenplay, and he got nominated for Worst Director, too. A clear message: stick to acting.
Despite the stacked cast and flashy setting, Harlem Nights was slammed for being messy, flat, and — worst of all — boring. It earned $60.9 million, which sounds decent until you remember that Murphy was coming off hits like Coming to America and Beverly Hills Cop II. This was supposed to be his big flex. Instead, it was his last time behind the camera.
To his credit, Murphy took the L and never directed another film. And honestly? Probably the right call. He still went on to win over audiences with Dreamgirls (and even picked up an Oscar nomination), but the minute he tried the triple-threat approach, it blew up in his face.
So if you ever wondered which film haunts Eddie Murphy the most — it's not Norbit, or even Pluto Nash. It's the one he tried to control from every angle… and ended up hating every minute of.