Eddie Murphy Admits There’s One Mega-Hit He Regrets Passing On

Eddie Murphy has never been shy about looking back at his career and calling things the way he sees them. He jokes about the misfires. He beams about the classics. He has also been candid about the hard choices that come with staying on top for four decades.

In a recent sit down, the comedy legend reflected on big what if moments and how the easy choice is not always the right one. He talked about comfort, momentum, and how a project can sound perfect in the room before it ever reaches a camera. Then he admitted that one decision still nags at him.

The reveal was simple. It was ‘Rush Hour’. Murphy said the offer arrived alongside a very different project. “They came to me, it was two scripts,” he recalled. “It was ‘Rush Hour,’ it’s going to be action-comedy and you’re going to be with Jackie Chan, and it’s action, it’s summertime, running, all this physical stuff.” The competing pitch sounded a lot more relaxed. “You in a robe in Miami.” He took that one and made ‘Holy Man’. “We went to Miami and made a horrendous film, but it was easy.” He even laughed at himself about how often he knocks it. “I have to stop saying ‘horrendous.’ The movie was soft, it wasn’t a great picture.”

‘Rush Hour’ became a late nineties juggernaut that paired Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, launched a franchise, and helped define an era of buddy comedies. ‘Holy Man’ did not find the same heat. Murphy’s point was not to rewrite history. It was to show how a star with his instincts can still zig when zagging would have been smarter.

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Eddie Murphy swapped Rush Hour for a robe 😂

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This is not the first time he has owned a pass he wishes he could take back. Years earlier he admitted he turned down ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’, which blended live action with animation in a way that sounded too strange to him at the time. His verdict since then is blunt. “Now every time I see it, I feel like an idiot.” That little line says a lot about how he measures choices after the fact.

Murphy’s honesty lands because it sits next to a mountain of wins. ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ just roared back with ‘Axel F’. ‘Coming to America’ still inspires new fans. Families quote ‘Shrek’. He earned an Oscar nomination for ‘Dreamgirls’. When he shrugs about ‘The Adventures of Pluto Nash’ or ‘Holy Man’, it reads less like regret and more like a veteran pulling a lesson from the long game.

So what is the takeaway from the one that got away. For Murphy it sounds like a reminder to choose the work that stretches you even when the other option looks like a vacation. For the rest of us it is a rare peek at the fork in the road before it became Hollywood trivia. He made the easy call. The world got ‘Rush Hour’ without him. And he is comfortable enough to say he wishes he had grabbed that ride.