Eddie Murphy has told Sky News he doesn’t expect to win awards but will happily accept an honorary Oscar when he’s 90, as his latest heist comedy The Pickup premieres on Amazon Prime Video to lukewarm reviews.
The comedy legend, 64, made the candid admission whilst promoting his new film alongside co-stars Keke Palmer and Pete Davidson. The Pickup, which debuted on Prime Video on 6 August, centres on two mismatched armoured truck drivers who become embroiled in a casino heist.
Despite being one of Hollywood’s biggest comedy stars since his breakthrough on Saturday Night Live in 1980, Murphy has only received one Oscar nomination throughout his illustrious career – for Best Supporting Actor in 2007’s Dreamgirls, which he lost to Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine.
The movies are timeless, and they’re special, so for years and years those movies play and the movies have commercial success,” Murphy explained to Sky News about his perspective on awards recognition. “So you make a lot of money and people love it, so you don’t even think about ‘I didn’t win a trophy!’ The response from the people and that the movie has legs, that’s the trophy.”
The Beverly Hills Cop star then joked about his future Oscar prospects: “You know what I’ve earned over these years? One day, they’ll give me one of those honorary Oscars. When I’m really old. And I’ll say thank you so much for this wonderful honour. I’ll be old like that and I’ll have no teeth. I’m cool with getting my honorary Oscar when I’m 90.”
Murphy’s comments come as his latest project faces harsh criticism from reviewers. The Pickup currently holds a dismal 35 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Metacritic assigning it a score of 39 out of 100, indicating “generally unfavorable” reviews.
Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com gave the film one out of four stars and wrote, “The Pickup is as generic and forgettable as its title suggests: a bland action-comedy that will surely end up being one of the year’s worst movies, if only for the egregious way it squanders its talented cast.
The film, directed by Tim Story, features Murphy as Russell, a veteran armoured truck driver nearing retirement who dreams of opening a bed and breakfast with his wife. He’s paired with Travis, played by Davidson, a bumbling wannabe cop who harbours secret ambitions of joining the police force.
Their routine cash pickup takes a dangerous turn when they’re ambushed by criminals led by Palmer’s character Zoe, a savvy mastermind with plans that extend beyond simple theft. The heist targets £48 million ($60 million) in casino cash, but critics say the plot fails to deliver on its promising premise.
Palmer, who plays the film’s antagonist, praised Murphy’s comedic legacy during the interview, particularly highlighting his work in The Nutty Professor. “I feel like recognition and [being] underrated and all this stuff, it annoys me a little bit because I think impact is really the greatest thing, like how people were moved by your work, which can’t really be measured by an award or really anything,” Palmer said.
She continued: “It’s very hard to make people laugh, and so when I think about it like The Nutty Professor, Eddie was doing everything, and I swear that the family members were real people. He didn’t camp it to the point where they weren’t realistic. His roles had integrity, even when he was in full costume.”
Murphy’s performance in The Nutty Professor, where he played seven different characters, won the Academy Award for Best Makeup in 1997. The comedy star spent 80 days in the makeup chair for the film, with legendary makeup artist Rick Baker creating the transformative effects.
Reflecting on the technical challenges of playing multiple characters in the same scene, Murphy recalled: “You can only shoot one character a day. And the rest of the time you’re shooting, I’m talking to tennis balls where the people were sitting. So to this day when I watch it, I’m like, wow, that’s a trip.
Palmer shared a memorable moment from filming The Pickup when Murphy’s acting fooled her into thinking he was genuinely praising her performance. “First of all, Eddie gives me this big speech before I do the monologue, where he’s like, ‘this is not playing around. This is a pivotal point in the movie’. I’m crying in the scene, and then it comes to the end, and Eddie’s [clapping] like, and I’m literally like, ‘oh my gosh, thank you so much’. And he’s like, ‘I’m acting’.”
Davidson, another Saturday Night Live alumnus, expressed excitement about the UK version of SNL set to launch in 2026. Sky announced in April that they would be producing a British adaptation of the iconic comedy show, with Lorne Michaels executive producing alongside his work on the American version.
“It’s a smart idea to have SNL over there because it’s not that it’s a different brand of comedy, but it is a little bit,” Davidson said. “A lot of the biggest stuff that’s in the States is stuff that we stole from you guys, like The Office or literally anything Ricky Gervais does.”
He added: “This is the first time I’ve ever heard anything American going to the UK, so I think it’s great. I think it’s great to have two opposite sorts of takes on things, but both be funny. That just shows you how broad comedy can be, you know?”
The UK version of Saturday Night Live will air on Sky Max and streaming service NOW, following the same live format as its American counterpart with rotating hosts and musical performances. Cecile Frot-Coutaz, CEO of Sky Studios and Chief Content Officer at Sky, commented: “For over 50 years Saturday Night Live has held a unique position in TV and in our collective culture, reflecting and creating the global conversation all under the masterful comedic guidance of Lorne Michaels.
Despite The Pickup’s poor critical reception, Murphy remains philosophical about his career trajectory. The actor’s journey has seen significant highs, from his breakout roles in 48 Hrs. and Trading Places to voice work in the Shrek franchise, alongside notable lows including the critically panned Norbit, which some believe cost him the Oscar for Dreamgirls when it was released during voting season.
Industry observers have long debated the “Norbit Effect” – the theory that the comedy’s release in February 2007, just weeks before the Academy Awards ceremony, may have influenced voters against Murphy. The film earned him multiple Razzie nominations and contrasted sharply with his acclaimed dramatic turn in Dreamgirls.
Deadline’s review of The Pickup noted that Murphy “just looks bored” in the film, with critic Pete Hammond writing that the veteran comic is “playing the straight man” to Davidson’s “hyper self.” The review suggests the film is “high on octane and low on comedy,” a disappointing outcome for fans hoping for a return to Murphy’s comedic glory days.
The Pickup marks Murphy’s latest streaming venture following 2019’s Dolemite Is My Name, which earned critical acclaim and Oscar buzz, though he ultimately wasn’t nominated. That film demonstrated Murphy’s continued ability to deliver compelling performances when given the right material.
As Murphy approaches his seventh decade, his perspective on awards and recognition reflects a career that has prioritised commercial success and audience connection over critical accolades. With franchises like Beverly Hills Cop and Shrek cementing his place in popular culture, the comedian seems content to wait for Hollywood’s eventual recognition.
Whether that honorary Oscar arrives when Murphy is 90 remains to be seen, but his impact on comedy and film is already undeniable. From his groundbreaking work on Saturday Night Live to his box office dominance in the 1980s and 1990s, Murphy has left an indelible mark on entertainment that transcends any trophy.
The Pickup is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
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Image Credit (Shortened):
Eddie Murphy at Tribeca, NYC (2010) – by Shankbone, licensed under CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
