Eddie Murphy Flops Twice but Wins With Studios - NYTimes.com

PORK BELLIES, WHICH IS USED TO MAKE BACON, WHICH YOU MIGHT FIND IN A BACON, LETTUCE AND TOMATO SANDWICH: The NYT explores the question of why movie studios keep paying Eddie Murphy $20M plus a share of the gross when so many of his films bomb:

Hollywood understands that big-time comedy careers are often volatile. Plot the box office runs of Will Ferrell and Mike Myers against those of dramatic stars like Will Smith and Tom Cruise, and the comedians’ are all over the map. Because comedies tend to be easier to film (if not to perform), those players are at bat more often, and so a few misses are considered normal.

That’s not to say Mr. Murphy isn’t paying a price for his track record. Paramount recently rejected a biopic about Richard Pryor that had Mr. Murphy attached to star. The studio’s plans for a fourth “Beverly Hills Cop” are also stalled. Web sites like Studio System that track movie projects list a remake of “The Incredible Shrinking Man” as one of his next films, but Universal Pictures put that project on the back burner more than a year ago (around the time “Meet Dave” tanked).

Arnold Robinson, Mr. Murphy’s publicist, said he would not trouble his client with an interview request from a newspaper. “Mr. Murphy does not do print interviews,” he said in an e-mail, adding, “For his age and body of work there are only one or two other actors that can compare to his career box office numbers.”

Mr. Murphy has other potential projects floating around — a third “Nutty Professor” is in development at Universal — and he has a guaranteed hit next spring in DreamWorks’ “Shrek Forever After,” in which he reprises his vocal role as the sassy Donkey.

Just one more R-rated comedy before he retires at 50 from films; that's all I'm asking.