Eddie Murphy Says Turning Down 'Rush Hour' for ‘Holy Man’ Was a ‘No-Brainer’

Hindsight is 20/20.

Eddie Murphy is among the many Hollywood stars who have passed on a role that they regret until this day. In an interview with Speedy Morman on 360 with Speedy, Murphy spoke about choosing Holy Man over the role of Detective James Carter, which ultimately went to Chris Tucker.

"They came to me, and they was like, it was two scripts," he recalled. "It was like, 'It's Rush Hour, and it's going to be [an] action comedy, and you're gonna be [with] Jackie Chan. And it's action, summertime, running, and all this physical stuff."

"And this other one was, 'You in a robe in Miami.' I was like, hey, hey, hey," Murphy continued, referencing his role in Holy Man. "It was a no-brainer! And we went to Miami, and made a horrendous film."

The 64-year-old actor and comedian almost immediately walked back calling Holy Man "horrendous." The 1998 movie currently has a 12 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so he may be onto something.

Murphy also confessed to turning down the role of Hoke Colburn in Driving Miss Daisy, which earned Morgan Freeman an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Even though the part was initially developed for him, Eddie was adamant that he "wasn't doing no shit like that."

Murphy confirmed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon that he turned down Ghostbusters in favor of Beverly Hills Cop, and passed on Who Framed Roger Rabbit because he did not believe in the idea of pairing animation with actual people.