WHERE DID THE IDEA FOR NORBIT COME FROM?
EDDIE MURPHY
I remember, uh, we saw a video, uh, on the, on the computer of a woman beating her husband up and all the wives thought it was the funniest thing ever, and it was, like, you think that's funny? They're just, like, yeah, look she, he's, she can't, he can't, hah, hah, hah, and she, the guy that just couldn’t defend himself, and my brother and I talked about it, it was, like, they think that's so funny, and it was, like, well, let's write something.
And we kinda, like, used The Color Purple as the, as a model, it was, like, uh, if you take The Color Purple and switch it and make it a man that was under a woman's thumb...
...his whole life, it's, it, kinda, kinda funny, (LAUGH) uh, you know, you take the edginess out of it and just this guy, this, this , this henpecked husband, it's kinda, it made it kinda funny and, uh, that's how it came about.
WHAT’S IT LIKE PLAYING MULTIPLE CHARACTERS, AND HOW DO YOU DEVELOP YOUR DIFFERENT CHARACTERS?
EDDIE MURPHY
It's fun for me, the end result, when I see, I, when I've been in one of these movies where I did multiple characters, but it's not fun doing it, it's a bunch of hard work doing it, but it's fun when you see it all put together.
Yeah, well, what happens is Rick Baker, the brilliant, genius Rick Baker, who did these make-ups and Coming To America, and Nutty Professor, uh...
...uh, he'll make the face, and then he'll start asking me questions, and that's how I find the character, it'll just start, you know, so where are you from, you know, while he's doing about, when he's about a hour or two before he's finished, yeah, how many kids do you have, you know, and we, and I'm trying different voices out, and stretching the make-up around, and, and after about two or three hours of him asking questions and me seeing what the make-up can do, after awhile you have it, and it's, like, oh, you can really see, watch those make-up tests, you could really, be, like, oh right there is where the character locked, you could, like, see it happen right on film sometimes.
WHY WAS IT IMPORTANT TO HAVE RICK BAKER AS PART OF THIS PROJECT?
EDDIE MURPHY
Well, Rick makes my characters look like real people......and what's crucial to, to these make-up pieces, when I do these movies, uh, and the, most make-up movies usually in the plot the audience knows that the character is in make-up and they're undercover, or they gotta do it, they're hiding and you know, and there are scenes where they gotta put their make-up on fast and all that, so you know it, that it's, and it, so it doesn't have to really look real, 'cause you know it's an, you know, your favorite actor underneath it or whoever.
But this is, like, it's crucial that the make-ups, you forget they're make-ups, and that's where Rick's genius is, it's crucial that you forget it's Eddie Murphy, you forget it's whoever, it's you're seeing this character, you know, and maybe somebody's have to tell you after that Coming To America, when I first started doing it, afterwards, uh, the old Jewish guy I did, people would be, like, you know, that was Eddie, after the movie they wouldn’t even know it.
And I think if I had, if you, if I hadn't had a history of this, you'd come to this movie and you wouldn’t know I was that old Asian guy, coming into it you know it, but if no one had told you, you would never think that that wasn't a really an old Asian guy and that's Rick's genius.
WHAT IT LIKE PLAYING IN A SCENE WITH YOURSELF? DID YOU HAVE TROUBLE AD-LIBBING
EDDIE MURPHY
I've done it so much, it was kinda, you know, uh, I've done it so much for me, go, going, all the way back to Coming To America, I've been, these scenes with myself so it was kind of, you know...
Uh, ad-libbing is always encouraged and we have Marlon Wayans and Cuba Gooding Jr., the Academy Award-winning Cuba Gooding Jr., not the comedian, uh, you have Comedian Eddie Griffin, we got Katt Williams, uh, Thandie Newton, so we got a really good supporting cast.
And Brian is a talented and funny director, I, I had such a good time working with Brian......um, my next movie Brian is directing.
TELL ME MORE ABOUT RASPUTIA.
EDDIE MURPHY
Well, it's just, you know, she's just, just tyranny in a skirt, I'd never (LAUGH) played anybody quite as mean as, uh, Rasputia, and, uh, she's a screen villain, she's one of that great, she, the movie starts off as a comedy, but towards the end Rasputia's like a great screen villainess. I never played a villainess.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PART OF NORBIT AND WHY?
EDDIE MURPHY
Well, my favorite part of the movie is, uh, doing these characters and, uh, what I can't, uh, uh, the, what I love about the movie is this sweetness that's at the center of it, the sweetness, the sweet little love story between, uh, you know, uh, Thandie Newton and, uh, Norbit's character and it's, like, uh, that's in the back and it's real sweet and believable with these outrageous characters around. And so it's, right what we wanted it to be.
WHAT DO YOU HOPE AUDIENCES GET OUT OF NORBIT?
EDDIE MURPHY
I think they're just gonna laugh, I think they'll really laugh, I think it's, I have a lot of people, hey when are you gonna do another movie, you know, I've been making so many movies for kids, people, when are you gonna do that Eddie Murphy funny movie? And it's, like, okay, here's one with multiple characters and make-up and it's edgy, and funny and I think they're just gonna laugh.
WHAT IS NORBIT ABOUT?
EDDIE GRIFFIN
Norbit is about, uh, Eddie Murphy, and Eddie Murphy and Eddie Murphy, playing three characters, it's, uh, about a young man who's a child at heart, uh, uh, damn near mentally retarded, and he's surrounded by this huge woman, who...
KATT WILLIAMS
(OVERLAPPING) Surrounded.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
...uh, uh, uh, surrounds him, literally. (LAUGH)
TELL US ABOUT YOUR ROLES IN NORBIT.
EDDIE GRIFFIN (CONTINUED)
Uh, me and, uh, Katt Williams play, uh, Pope Sweet Jesus, and Lord Have Mercy, who are retired pimps that own a rib shack and all the ex-ho's are now waitresses. And, uh, the entire neighborhood, basically, cares for Norbit because he's, you know, a, it's a big kid.
KATT WILLIAMS
It was a stretch for us, you know, we had to do a lot of research 'cause, you know, that, that world is so foreign to us, that whole pimp world, so it was, it was necessary that for, you know, a period of six months that we, um, dealt with the girls and...
EDDIE GRIFFIN
That was a whole lot of, uh, rehearsing, man.
KATT WILLIAMS
...yeah, it was a seedy environment, the strip clubs.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
I mean, the pimps, convention and...
KATT WILLIAMS
It was, it was, uh, probably the hardest piece I've ever worked on.
DID YOU DO MUCH AD-LIBBING IN THE MOVIE?
EDDIE GRIFFIN
They wanna ask Murphy a question and said, uh, is it cool to adlib? He said, we didn't hire you all 'cause you ain't funny, he said, if it's funny, we'll keep it, and, uh, you know, he kept most if it, there was a couple of people that tried it and...
KATT WILLIAMS
Yeah, it didn't work out so well.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
...didn't work out, but, uh, yeah.
KATT WILLIAMS
But improv's a crazy thing.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
You know, but it's a crazy thing, you either got it or you don't.
KATT WILLIAMS
(OVERLAPPING) Or, or you don't.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
And, you know, if you don't, please just leave it alone, 'cause...
KATT WILLIAMS
I was playing a sidekick, so I got to just repeat whatever he said, he like, what? I, what? And that was...
EDDIE GRIFFIN
No, the soliloquy, dog when you threw down on the...
KATT WILLIAMS
(OVERLAPPING) Yes.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
...the, uh, sandwich salad twist with the...
KATT WILLIAMS
(OVERLAPPING) Yes.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
...butterneck, uh, roll.
KATT WILLIAMS
Yeah, well, (LAUGH) ...
EDDIE GRIFFIN
That, that, yeah.
KATT WILLIAMS
Cauliflower reduction.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
I don't know, when you see it, it's about five minutes and they kept all the food groups then bam, (INTERVIEWER LAUGHS) and then it's $14.95.
KATT WILLIAMS
Yeah. (TECHNICAL)
WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING WITH EDDIE MURPHY?
EDDIE GRIFFIN
Uh, you know, uh, known the brother for about 17 years so finally working with the dude, you know, was like, uh, uh, you know, one of the highpoints in a brother's career, you know, 'cause you got a, a, a plethora of talent in this one film. You got that many funny guns in the house, me, myself, Katt Williams, Marlon Wayans, you know, uh, Cuba Gooding Jr., you know, you, uh, it's a, it's a, it's a lot of gun slingers in the house.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
So it's like going to the all-star game, you know, so you got the baddest cats from every team in one game.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
You gotta step your game up, so everybody came to the plate with their A-game.
KATT WILLIAMS
Eddie, you couldn’t find him in the characters, like, you know, from watching it as a fan when he plays different characters, you're always looking and going, oh yeah, you could tell it's, but in, in person there were times when I, I would spend, I thought one time that I had just spent 45 minutes talking to Eddie Murphy and, and found out later that it was actually the stunt double, and, and I had, had a deep conversation about my whole film career and, uh, you know.
KATT WILLIAMS
Anyhow this stunt double had just put me in a couple movies and it was, it was disconcerting but it just shows you, how good the work was. It's cool.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
I gave him a nickname called Eddie Morphin.
KATT WILLIAMS
Yeah.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
You know, he has the ability to morph, you know, he, he can take himself and put it in a little closet in his mind somewhere...
EDDIE GRIFFIN
...and allow that character to take over, 'cause when you look through all that make-up, you don't see Eddie's eyes, you know, when he was, uh, Mr. Wong, I mean, we're standing up on the church...
KATT WILLIAMS
Yeah.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
...and the dude turned around and look at you, and them eyes is Mr. Wong, and Eddie ain't in there, and then when they yell cut, he'd start talking to us as Eddie, so it's this...
KATT WILLIAMS
(OVERLAPPING) Yep.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
...Chinese dude with Eddie coming out of it now. (INTERVIEWER LAUGHS) Yeah.
KATT WILLIAMS
Yeah, it's great. He's the best, he's the best at it, and, and a lot have emulated him...
EDDIE GRIFFIN
(OVERLAPPING) Mm hmm.
KATT WILLIAMS
...uh, so, but you, as Eddie was saying, you know, you gotta be a special type of person to be able to do it, yeah, it's, yeah.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
You gotta have that gift to morph, you know, a lot of people do characters, you see them, yeah man, yeah, nah, nah, it's a character. He's doing morphs.
KATT WILLIAMS
Right. Yeah, he actually becomes the person, which I, I suppose as an actor is the highest complement.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF NORBIT?
EDDIE GRIFFIN
Yeah, my most, uh, exciting part, uh, was, I'd have to say was, uh, the rib shack is what I'd like to see, I'd like to see the rib shack.
KATT WILLIAMS
Yeah, that's a good scene.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
Yes, 'cause, uh, that's a good scene, yeah.
KATT WILLIAMS
It's a good scene.
WHAT CAN AUDIENCES EXPECT FROM NORBIT?
EDDIE GRIFFIN
Uh, they can expect to laugh and spit popcorn in the back of the person's head in front of them. And they can expect to want to come back and see it again, yeah.
KATT WILLIAMS
The, the secret of the whole movie, and you probably already know this 'cause it's all over the internet, but the whole, it just came out, that, you know, Eddie Griffin and I are also playing dual roles, in the movie.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
Yes indeedy.
KATT WILLIAMS
And so it's gonna be really fun for the audience (LAUGH) to try to figure out who else Eddie Griffin is playing in the movie, as, as well as myself, but it's, it's just a little.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
You have to deduct in there and catch it like, oh...
KATT WILLIAMS
...oh, that's Eddie Griffin playing that character, it's, it's, you know, it's...
EDDIE GRIFFIN
(OVERLAPPING) Yeah, yeah, it's, hey that's Katt Williams.
KATT WILLIAMS
It's fun, you know, it was fun.
EDDIE GRIFFIN
Yeah. (TECHNICAL)
