Eddie Murphy on Turning Down Star Trek IV
Image: Paramount
FEBRUARY 1, 2023 - Eddie Murphy describes himself as a ‘Trekkie’ and only a true fan would know that or the ‘Trekker’ designation.
So, in what was clearly the height of his career, why did he turn down the chance to appear in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home for the 1986 premiere?
He was just coming from his theatrical hit, Beverly Crusher Hills Cop. He was working for Paramount Pictures and they were eager to bring one of their biggest stars to Trek.
And though he wanted to appear in the movie and was a big fan of Star Trek, he declined.
He met with producer Harve Bennett and director Leonard Nimoy in the early days of the movie’s development. Drafts of a script were in place, featuring a character that was written specifically for Murphy.
Initially he stated that he declined so that he could take the movie, The Golden Child as he thought it would be a better career move for him….
But now… in a recent interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Murphy said, “Yeah, you know which one it was, it was the one where they go to San Francisco and they get the whales… I was going to be the one that they met when they got to San Francisco, and I was like, ‘No, I want to go and beam up and be on the ship,’ so I didn’t do it.”
Kimmel offered his support to Murphy, stating, “You have to be on the Enterprise for Star Trek,” to which Murphy came back with, “Yeah, they had me like talking jive to Spock.”
However, in the early draft which hooked Murphy in the first place, written by Steve Meerson and Peter Krikes, Murphy was to play a college professor who believed in aliens and ended up encountering the Enterprise crew. After he dropped out, Murphy’s character was combined with a couple of others— including a marine biologist, Dr. Gillian Taylor, played by Catherine Hicks.
Star Trek IV performed well, coming in at #7 at the box office for 1986 and making almost twice as much as The Golden Child.
Later, Murphy said of his decision, “I think I might have been better off doing Star Trek IV.”
But of course, Beverly Hills Cop did have additional sequels so that if Murphy hadn’t taken it, it would have gone to another actor, and he’d have likely only been in that one Star Trek movie.
Speaking of Beverly Hills Cop, Murphy recently shot his fourth movie for the franchise, which comes out on Netflix later this year.
For more of the story, slick down your moustache, give a couple of short, medium pitched laughs, set a course for the sun, sling shot around it and come up to TrekMovie.com
Thaddeus Tuffentsamer is an internationally selling author. His books have been sold in the US, the UK, Sweden, Germany, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Italy, and France. He has a series of young reader novels, a satirical self-help book, (which, according to reviews, actually has some pretty solid counsel), and has joined the list of professional Sherlock Holmes authors.
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