Original subtitles

America. It's worth coming to.

Because here, in this land of opportunity

are the world's biggest stars and the world's best moviemakers.

And Coming to America had plenty of both.

Amen! A-men!

John Landis and Eddie were both so secure in their respective roles.

This creative coming together…

It was magical.

…was a cohesive, collaborative master class.

Landis and Eddie got in a fight on the set.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

Apart from all the fighting, yeah.

Well, the fight…

He was trying to strangle me.

…to get Coming to America made

was a litigious, loveless quest.

"He took my idea."

Barely held together by secret negotiations…

"We'll finish the day, but we're no longer friends."

…pride… Eddie wanted to play multiple parts.

Thank you. …and dancing.

And down and four and up. Flip.

Don't forget the dancing.

In fact, the making of this movie…

…was such a disaster…

Maybe it was because of me, I don't know.

…that even Nostradamus got involved.

"No, I think it's ridiculous." He goes, "Yeah, but…

…I'm not taking any chances."

And when it comes to spilling the beans on these behind-the-scenes shenanigans…

I don't wanna talk about that.

…no one else was taking chances either.

I can't mention that on the camera.

Well, almost no one else.

I actually ****** and so ******.

What, now?

These are The Movies That Made Us.

Zamunda. A country of tradition, opulence,

rich history, and,

well, just richness.

Wipers!

But just under the surface of this African Utopia…

…is just a man looking for love. Ooh, ooh.

I want the woman to love me for who I am.

And so, Prince Akeem goes looking for a queen

in where else but…

Queens. Queens.

Where he samples the local cuisines.

I'm McDowell's. Makes some friends.

Okay, now, what the fuck do you want?

Gets a job.

And that's when the big bucks start rollin' in.

And makes his mom and dad so cranky,

they pop over to pick him up. Can you tell us where he may be?

Only to discover that, in the end,

true love is probably better than an arranged marriage.

The end. Good night, everybody.

There's more.

But unlike the rich, centuries-old cultural heritage of Zamunda,

this story starts on a Saturday, or more specifically…

Live from New York. It's Saturday Night!

Because since 1975,

SNL has been a staple of American television history,

launching the careers of superstar after superstar.

Whoa!

This is gonna be cool.

And for 45 years and counting,

it's led every aspiring sketch comedy writer to dream.

One day, if I ever could work on a show like this…

We got ourselves a writer here!

…then I'll know I've made it.

And Barry did dream and did make it,

because he started working at SNL in 1980 along with this guy.

However…

SNL in 1980 was… grim.

NBC, for some reason, decided to get rid of everyone.

So, what you had was basically a new show.

It was pretty miserable.

But that didn't bother Barry and Dave… much.

And here we are trying to replace

the original geniuses who had left the building.

People'd come up to me, say, "Thanks for ruining our show."

The writing really was on the wall for SNL.

Until I met Eddie Murphy.

But not Eddie Murphy as we know him.

This was a tiny Eddie Murphy, fresh out of high school.

I always said Eddie suffered for about two weeks

before he got his first network show.

Eddie Murphy seemed destined for stardom.

He's super, super young.

I am 19 years old. I have been Black for 19 years on this Earth.

And when he first comes on Saturday Night Live,

he is really sadly underutilized.

Why do you want me to look at some sketches that are terrible?

And no one was writing for him,

and the rest of the cast wasn't setting the world on fire.

And so, with everything to lose…

Dave and I go, "Let's write for this guy."

…they wrote this.

What's the story, Rahim?

Yo, baby!

I'll never forget standing off camera looking at him,

'cause here's this kid, he's 19 years old.

He was going on TV for the first time in his life,

and he was completely at ease.

I'd like to tell y'all this is the most disgusting thing y'all pulled up-to-date.

He was a natural, as they say.

In the early '70s we braided our hair, then the late '70s you had to braid yours.

Now it's 1980. We're on welfare.

By the end of next year, y'all gonna be on welfare, too.

The set could've fallen down around him, and he didn't care.

And everyone else cared a great deal,

because they very quickly noticed…

"This guy's great. Whatever it is, he has got it."

And along with Barry and Dave, he kept getting it.

And so, from then on,

Eddie hung out with Dave and I,

and 90 percent of Eddie's material on the show was written by us.

He did all those famous sketches that Eddie did.

You know, Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood. Who is it?

He really gets the opportunity to come to the fore

and just sort of showcase his immense talent.

Would you welcome, Eddie Murphy.

He is the only Saturday Night Live cast member who hosted the show

while he was a cast member.

Live from New York! It's The Eddie Murphy Show!

Boy, without Eddie, that show would have been canceled.

With these sketches,

Eddie had single-handedly saved an American comedy institution,

and inevitably…

He was offered movies.

He says, "I'm gonna do this movie, 48 Hours."

And it was huge.

What's happening, Luther?

Huge at the box office, and huge for Eddie Murphy…

Heard of 'em now? …netting him a Golden Globe nomination.

And in the process, spawning the Buddy Cop genre.

Not bad for a kid just out of high school.

Yeah, but I look good.

And for his sophomore film, Eddie Murphy starred in this.

Black or White. Dreadful title.

Very confident. Who do you think you are?

Actually, who are you? Seriously?

I have to introduce myself? If you don't mind, part of the format.

Did you get other directors to do that?

Well, yes. This one did.

Hi. I'm Chris Columbus.

So did this one.

My name's John McTiernan.

And this one.

My name is Jan de Bont.

Um, okay.

All right, well, maybe we'll come back to this.

And to be fair, in the early '80s, John Landis was a very big deal.

Directing Animal House, The Blues Brothers and An American Werewolf in London,

all within a span of about three years.

John Landis is probably the greatest comedic director that ever lived.

One big hit after another, he had sterling credentials.

And next on his list, John hoped would be Black or White.

I hated that title.

In fact, I said to everyone, "Whoever comes up with a better title,

I'll give a hundred dollars."

Are we talking about a wager, Randolph?

A hundred bucks that this man very much wanted.

Hi, there. I'm George Folsey.

I was his producer.

And George produced a million-dollar idea.

"What would you think of Trading Places?"

And I thought, that's a brilliant title.

I may still owe him a hundred dollars. Don't use this.

We won't.

So, John Landis and George Folsey…

Morning, Folsey.

…made Trading Places.

Starring, among other familiar faces,

breakout star, Eddie Murphy.

He was so wonderful on Trading Places. He was so young and full of…

Yes? …enthusiasm.

He had a sophistication and maturity.

He and John got along great.

And that chemistry really paid off,

because Trading Places was a you-know-what.

And Eddie's star now was truly on the rise.

But that didn't mean he could call the shots.

Cut! Not yet.

Who told you to say "Damn it," damn it?

Doesn't mean that he could've walked into the studio and say,

"This is what I wanna do next."

But after his next movie, Beverly Hills Cop…

Then he was a superstar.

…then he absolutely could, yes.

Yes, at this point he could basically just commit to a movie,

and the only thing the studio wants to know is, "Can you get it for June 8th?"

Meanwhile during the same time,

these two were also coming up in the world.

Barry and I had a deal at Paramount.

And we were free to write whatever we wanted.

It was amazing. We could just go pitch an idea,

a one-sentence idea, and they say, "Sounds good."

And it was right around this time,

as Eddie was able to make whatever he wanted,

and Dave and Barry were able to just write whatever they wanted.

Eddie calls David and I and he says he has an idea for a movie.

I have something else in mind. Tell no one of this.

"I want you guys to write it."

And Eddie's idea was called The Quest.

Because in real life, he was on the ultimate one,

the quest to find true love.

Romance was pretty easy for a guy in his situation.

I mean, all he had to do was show up.

He really was looking for a real relationship at that point in his life.

He even talked about it in his stand-up.

I'm a target.

If I ever get married, I have to go off to the woods of Africa…

And through this romantic anguish…

He pitched a story about the prince,

wanting to come to America to find a bride who loved him for himself.

Ha! So that's it.

And at the end of the pitch,

Ned Tanen, the president of the studio, looked to us.

He says, "How quickly can you guys do this?"

"You got five weeks to write it, start to finish. Can you do it?" We said...

Yes! Yes!

You know, we wrote fast and we'd written for him on the show a lot.

And with that, Dave, Barry, and Eddie

got to work on this very special movie.

We were confident we could do it.

You must be out of your goddamn mind!

But they wouldn't be doing it all by themselves,

because Eddie had a co-star. Arsenio Hall!

Arsenio Hall is Eddie's friend, and a comedian.

So Eddie wanted him in the movie as his sidekick.

He'd already made that choice.

And, everyone agreed, a good choice. It's hard.

Arsenio Hall also had an impressive comedic background.

His physical comedy,

his reaction shots.

But Eddie had more than just an amusing sidekick for his movie.

But not much more.

Eddie had written 20 pages of the script.

Rest of the story kind of worked out, but no specifics.

With a crushing deadline… We need it in five weeks.

…they'd need specifics, and fast.

So, Dave and Barry dove deep into the intricacies of African culture.

No, no.

This is a fairy tale.

This was made up.

Instead, immersing themselves in American culture.

Good morning, my neighbors!

Hey! Fuck you!

And as promised, five weeks later…

We handed in on Friday, and Tuesday it's green-lit.

And we start shooting in January.

But with shooting scheduled to start in just a few months…

Right.

…this slightly aimless production was in dire need of some direction.

Originally, Eddie was supposed to direct. But three weeks into the writing process,

he decided it was probably too much work or…

I am not sure if I am ready.

He said, "What do you think of Landis?" Who?

Yes, him.

Well, between his golden comedic touch…

I've made hugely successful comedies.

…and excellent rapport with Eddie, he'd surely be the perfect choice.

However, there is a little bit more to this story

that we should probably go back and talk about.

As the crew watched in horror early this morning,

actor Vic Morrow and two Vietnamese children were killed.

On July 23rd, 1982,

as John Landis was directing The Twilight Zone movie,

a helicopter stunt went wrong, killing three people,

including two children.

The Twilight Zone filmmakers took heed

for their abuse of child labor laws.

Landis was charged by the DA's office with manslaughter.

Landis became the first Hollywood director

to be tried for death on a movie set.

The tragedy, that was horrible.

But after the tragedy, you read that, you know, it affected my career

and I never worked again, and I...

I don't understand why they say that.

I made some of my most successful movies after that, but…

During the long wait between the accidents and the trial,

John directed several movies and even Michael Jackson's Thriller video.

But then in 1986,

John Landis, George Folsey, and three other crew members were tried.

The trial has been four years in the making.

They were ultimately acquitted.

But it made headlines for months on end.

What's been called The Twilight Zone trial…

And the press for John Landis, the golden boy, was not good.

I'm sorry, I think it's inappropriate for me at this time to say anything.

He asked certain people to come to court

to vouch for his character,

and he was bitter that some people hadn't done that.

I think John was very hurt that

his friends in Hollywood didn't step up and speak up for him.

Why don't you just go away?

Which brings us back to Eddie's question.

"What do you guys think of Landis?"

With John Landis on the outside looking in,

and Eddie Murphy now the biggest star in Hollywood,

well, the way Eddie tells it,

he just wanted to help out an old friend.

He felt that he owed him a favor.

He felt that he was doing me a favor, he said?

He felt an obligation to Landis,

the man who helped launch his road to stardom.

And what Eddie Murphy wanted… Excuse me.

-…Eddie Murphy got.

Winthorpe, does he live here?

I got a call from Ned Tanen.

Or as everyone at Paramount called him, The Boss.

And I went to Paramount.

And he said, "Would you like to do it?"

And I said, "Well, what does Eddie think?"

He says, "Eddie's requested you."

And I said, "Really? Well…

We'd have to work on the script."

I love John. John's a great guy…

There's definitely a "but" coming.

…but he can be a little strong when you meet him.

We remember. Did you get other directors to do that?

We go into Ned Tanen's office, and John was storming around the room.

Just frothing mad. Here he's being offered a chance to direct this big movie.

I remember him saying, "I don't know. I don't know if these guys can write."

"What if the script sucks?"

Most comedy scripts are bad.

And I said, "Excuse me."

"What if the script is great and you fuck it up?"

And John immediately said, "I like this guy."

Those are two very talented guys, working under insane circumstances.

And they had to please Eddie. I know what I like.

And I know you know 'cause you're trained to know what I like.

But more importantly, they had to please me.

And to put it very nicely…

Landis is a…

a challenging director.

And there was always a concern about

how much control he was going to have to have.

A lot, beginning with the script.

The first thing I remember changing

is, Barry and David had named the country Zmuda.

After a friend of ours, Bob Zmuda.

And then John Landis saw that and said…

"No! You can't call this country Zmuda!"

He said, "Put 'an' in it."

"Put an 'an' in it." So we did.

And that's how it became… Zamunda.

It is another beautiful day in Zamunda.

And that was about it for notes.

Except for a few more from the studio.

We were given notes by Paramount.

They want a car chase. Hit it.

Because at that time, movies had car chases.

And John grabbed the sheaf of notes and said, "Come with me."

And we go up to the office of Ned Tanen, the president of the studio.

He pushes past the receptionist, storms into Ned Tanen's office and says,

"Don't you ever give notes to my fucking writers again."

And threw them at him. I thought, "Wow!"

"How does he get away with this?"

My pressure was that release date. And that was, like, the Sword of Damocles.

We didn't have any time to rewrite it.

And John Landis didn't want us to rewrite it. He liked it.

Because, thanks to Eddie, John had quite a unique opportunity.

Because of his idea, I realized I'm gonna make a Black movie.

But no one will notice.

Because, one, Eddie was such a huge star.

And two, it's a love story. Didn't matter if they were Black or not.

It made no difference. His color made no difference to the story.

And that was very, very moving and exciting to me.

And as well as this big idea to be excited about,

with well over 50 Black roles to cast,

for many, it was the film they'd been waiting for.

Coming to America really becomes that film

for past Black stars, for current Black stars.

I'm all for that.

For up-and-coming Black stars.

Who the fuck is this asshole?

Samuel Jackson, who was an unknown actor at that time.

Fuck you.

Dave and I'd gone, "This guy's good."

A junior Cuba Gooding Jr. Whatever you needed.

You have riches. It wasn't like you were trying to find a needle in a haystack.

You've got a smorgasbord.

It was their opportunity to really show what they can do.

And one particular actor had done a lot.

We wanted James Earl Jones as the king, but James Earl Jones wanted to play…

Yeah. …the father.

He's always playing them. I am your father.

And John Landis asked us to call him up to try to convince him to play the king.

And we got on the phone and he said, "Gentlemen, you know nothing about Africa,

but you sure know Queens."

With that they had their king. Then it is settled.

And as for that father role James Earl Jones had his eye on…

For the part of Mr. McDowell, he wanted to cast…

Hi, I'm John Amos and I played Mr. McDowell in Coming to America.

That's who you mean, right? No, no.

He wanted to cast…

…Harry Belafonte.

And I said, "John, Harry Belafonte's already got a Caribbean accent."

"This character needs to be uniquely American."

Well, here's a unique American waiting patiently.

I started as a writer in television.

I was Hollywood's only African-American comedy writer on staff on a network show.

That, in turn, gave me the opportunity to become an actor.

I got the job as James Evans,

Florida's husband on the series Good Times.

You wanna run that by me again?

Florida's husband on the series Good Times.

But the most impressively relevant detail of John's career…

He used to work at a McDonald's.

It gets better than that. He starred in a McDonald's commercial.

I was one of the red hats, they called 'em in those days.

With an inbuilt skill that another actor would take years to perfect.

And being cast in this movie would allow John Amos to revisit

one other aspect of his roots.

It's real comfortable.

I knew I'd have a chance to work with the late Madge Sinclair again,

who, of course, had portrayed my wife, Belle, in the miniseries Roots.

She's a very, very capable actress.

My name is Aoleon.

Aoleon.

A alien.

And for Prince Akeem's love interest…

I actually cast Vanessa Williams.

Everybody thought that Vanessa Williams was gonna get that part.

But then… Shari came in.

Hello. There was innocence about her.

And she asked to be Cinderella.

Well, if the shoe fits.

And while the casting continued,

up-and-coming stand-up comic…

Louie Anderson. Okay, Louie.

…was asking himself…

Am I a good actor?

And while he pondered this over lunch one day…

Eddie comes in with a big entourage.

I said to the waiter, "Hey."

"Put Eddie's bill on my credit card,

but don't tell him till I'm gone."

I think it was about $661.

Not that I remember.

I was only making about a hundred bucks a week.

It'd be a Midwestern thing to do.

The next day, I get a call. Eddie Murphy.

He said, "I'm doing a little movie…"

See, I'm washing lettuce.

"…called Coming to America."

Soon, I'll be on fries.

"And I'm gonna make a part for you in it."

So he did. A year or two,

I make assistant manager. This one.

And that's where the big bucks start rollin' in.

But Louie continued to wonder.

"I wonder if I'll be any good." Mostly, I thought,

"Am I a good actor?" Which I'm really... I... you know, maybe I'm not.

But there was one minor casting decision befuddling the team.

I'm reading the screenplay and I see at one point,

Eddie takes this money from Arsenio.

You have no more money, you can cause no more mischief.

Only later to give it to a bum under the Brooklyn Bridge.

I thought, wouldn't it be interesting if he gives the money to the Duke brothers,

who are destitute at the end of Trading Places?

That's a good idea. It's clever.

John didn't like it.

That's ridiculous.

Somehow it's breaking the frame.

Something John never ever does apart from in all the films where he does.

I still thought it was a pretty good idea, so...

I mentioned it again and he said, "You bring it up again, you're fired."

… That's not entirely true.

Sure.

That's George's dramatic version.

Yeah. F…

Fuck you. Okay.

Well, regardless of how it went down…-…

…the issue was dropped.

With just weeks until shooting began,

their quest to find actors was over.

And, incidentally, it was still called The Quest.

But anyway, any remaining roles, Eddie and Arsenio could do.

Eddie wanted to play multiple parts.

He admired that Peter Sellers had played multiple roles in films before.

You have an astonishingly good idea there, Doctor.

And despite a slightly confused studio…

"Can't we just hire other actors?"

You must be out of your goddamn mind!

It's important they play it. That's the fun of it.

Thank you. And when it came to choosing the man

who would make this parade of profiles possible,

the choice was obvious.

Big round of applause for...

Rick Baker.

A master of prosthetic makeup.

Rick did the makeup on my first film.

Schlock!

Schlock.

About a gorilla named…

Schlock!

Schlock. I was Schlock.

And John was so impressed with Rick's work,

he hired him on basically all of his movies,

including Coming to America.

He's the greatest that ever lived at prosthetic makeup.

The guy's a genius.

And as for the comic genius inside this genius's work…

Eddie's in a T-shirt with an old Jewish man's face.

Who's the star of the picture?

It's this young guy named Eddie Murphy, I think it is.

Christ, I hate him.

He had so much fun doing that character.

He went as the old Jewish man out in the public,

just to see if people would buy it.

Actually, it's an idea Eddie had long dabbled with.

Wait a second.

Actually, the hardest one to write for was the old Jew.

And I remember I got stuck and I called my dad up,

and I said, "What would an old Jew say here?"

And he came up with the line…

This is beautiful. What is that, velvet?

But now with the mastery of Rick Baker, lines almost didn't matter.

You could almost not control him, because he just was possessed by this character.

I'm Eddie Murphy.

No one knew that was Eddie Murphy.

Well, that would soon change,

because when the cameras rolled in January 1988…

We started filming.

…well, everyone in Queens recognized Eddie Murphy then.

My goodness! It is you!

There was about 5,000 people on Queens Boulevard.

And I thought, are these extras? No, they know Eddie Murphy's here.

The guy I made Trading Places with…

Hey! Bubbles, man!

…is not the guy I made Coming To America with.

Now he was a huge international superstar.

Halt!

He had a huge entourage that was almost comedic.

And although Louie didn't have an entourage…

I had a trailer that says "Louie Anderson" on it.

…well, he had his fans too.

I called my mom, I go, "I'm in my own trailer."

But, you know, my mom,

"Well, bring me back something from the trailer."

What, like a pillow or something? What are you talking about?

While Louie was contemplating soft crime,

Eddie Murphy was just giving stuff away.

Because Eddie is free-spirited…

Emphasis on "free."

If any of his entourage see something that they like,

like a watch, or a ring, or anything like that, he'd go, "Do you like that?"

He'd take it, "Here. Take it."

Let them wear our princely robes.

And he says, "The prop department will have more."

And so, yeah, we had real Rolex watches.

And real Louis Vuitton bags…

Each piece, they're $80,000 or more.

Which were used in the very first scene they shot.

And the generosity of Mother Nature was on full display as well.

You just don't call up Mother Nature and say, "Give me a rainstorm."

She did a bit better than that.

Overnight, a huge snowfall.

Behold, Semmi.

In the story, we'd gone from green, green Africa,

and here we are in Queens, and there was snow on the ground.

Well, among other things.

Nevertheless… It was magical.

…with their first shot in the bag and the bag safely away from the entourage…

"Here, take it." …the magic continued.

Eddie is gifted. He's a brilliant mimic.

All his performances in the movie are wonderful.

But Eddie didn't play every role in the film.

And those other performances were equally as wonderful.

For example…

We got to that part of the script

where my character says something to King Joffer.

It was scripted as… I don't give a damn who you are.

"I'll drop you like a bad habit."

I said, "No, I need something stronger

as a retort to the insult that he's given to my daughter."

So, in front of superstar, Eddie Murphy,

and "prone to throwing notes in people's faces," John Landis,

John Amos improvised.

You say one more word about Lisa and I'mma…

"Break my foot off in your royal ass."

Pardon me?

At that point, Eddie just about collapsed.

So, with the mood on set free and easy…

"Here, take it."

Emphasis on free…

The thing I loved about working with John Landis and with Eddie,

they were both so secure in their respective roles.

Even the writers felt at home on set.

You know, writers usually aren't welcome on the set.

Not John. He wanted us there.

And maybe just like that first day on set…

I'd use the word "magical." It was magical.

A really chill set. Everybody is so cool.

And they finished shooting,

released the movie, and everyone was happy.

It was magical.

Everybody is so cool.

There was one small problem. Yeah.

You know, what I don't like is so much will be made of the…

The "fight." Sorry, did you say, "fight"?

I called Folsey immediately. He was out there at the set.

"Get your ass back here now."

Landis and Eddie got in a fistfight on the set.

Damn! Can everyone slow down?

What? You're kidding me, right?

It's not that interesting. A fistfight?

No, no, no, that's a huge exaggeration.

Then what on earth happened?

You know, I still don't know, really, what the hell it was about.

People have different memories of this event.

I heard they were telling "your mama" jokes.

And John Landis got the better of him on the "your mama" joke.

What, now? "Your mama" jokes.

There was no "your mama" joke that I recall.

So, if it wasn't a "your mama" joke…

Maybe it was because of me, I don't know.

Maybe it was. Was it about Louie?

No.

If it wasn't about Louie, then it could only be about…

money? Yeah.

And it just so happens, it was about Barry

and Dave's money.

I don't wanna talk about that. Well, it's a bit late for that. Dave?

We were there in New York.

Supposedly, our expenses were being paid by Eddie Murphy's company,

because we were writing a pilot for Eddie Murphy Productions for CBS.

But according to Barry…

The deal was just supposed to be closed,

and it was taking a long time for Paramount to close it.

Long time. Right.

That's how it began. John said, "Hey." "Hey."

"Why don't you pay these guys? You're supposed to pay their expenses."

Gee, is that what it was?

It was a joke. It was just a joke.

Which soon turned into more physical comedy.

Excuse me for a moment.

I was talking to someone, and I was grabbed from behind.

Eddie put his arm around, "Show him what we do when he talks about our business."

It was a joke. It wasn't a joke.

He was trying to strangle me.

Or was it the other way round? John kind of playfully was choking Eddie,

and he didn't like what was going on, and…

But according to Dave…

John said, "Let me go."

"What the fuck are you doing?" And according to Kevin…

It started with John putting his hand on Eddie.

But one thing was indisputable.

And then John got all… ruffled and went off to his car.

I was furious.

So, I took the script from the continuity person and I said,

"Here, shoot your own fucking movie."

And I stormed off, and there's my driver. I said, "Start the car!"

And we drive.

I get on the phone and I call my lawyer.

And I said, "You call Paramount and tell them,

fuck them and fuck their movie."

And all this over a joke.

Or maybe not a joke.

Because it seemed like Dave and Barry were merely punch lines

to something else that had been brewing.

John Landis had directed Eddie in Trading Places

at a point when Eddie was just starting out.

Eddie wasn't as big a star,

wasn't the dominant alpha male in the relationship.

By the time Coming to America was being made,

Eddie was a big name.

So, really, you could say that they had traded places.

It altered their relationship.

The sand had shifted.

And those shifting power dynamics, I think, they lead to conflict.

I think Eddie expected John to treat him

like the enormous star that he was then.

And I think John was disappointed that Eddie didn't come down

and support him during the Twilight Zone trial.

And with their differences unsettled,

the jury was out on the whole movie.

It was shut down.

And it looked like we were at a standstill.

It was a very serious situation.

And no one was more acutely aware

of just how serious it was than Landis's lawyer.

He goes, "If you quit,

they don't have to pay you."

And I'm like, "I... What?"

So I go back.

And with the movie on the line, the writers stepped in to right the ship.

Barry and I kind of ran diplomacy. Let's just put it that way.

I went back out to the car and told Landis, "Eddie apologized."

"He's sorry. He wants you to come back to the set."

It wasn't true, but I got him back to the set, didn't I?

And when John made his way to Eddie's trailer…

Eddie didn't have a trailer.

He had a big bus. A bus. Yes, of course, he did.

We had this talk and he said, "Okay, we'll go out."

"We'll finish the day, but we're no longer friends."

And at that point, I said, "Deal."

They're both big boys,

and they knew the most important thing was to get the movie done.

But understandably, things were sort of awkward on set.

They wouldn't talk to each other or say anything.

I see the two of you are getting along.

… no. So the crew improvised.

If Landis wanted something done on set, he had to talk to Eddie's uncle.

Uncle Ray! Who would then…

Relay it to Eddie. And if Eddie had a message…

They had to have the first assistant director…

Talk to… Uncle Ray!

…who relayed the message to Landis.

Yeah, it got to be pretty, pretty chaotic there for a while.

And the clashes over money continued.

This was the money I had made that I had to make several different images

of Eddie on the... On the front there.

When I tell you he's got his own money, I mean the boy has got his own money.

But they couldn't agree over what it should actually look like.

If Landis liked it, Eddie didn't like it.

And if Eddie liked it, Landis didn't like it.

For your trouble.

And while no one was sure who was right on the money,

there's no disputing who had final say on the coin.

The coins are beautiful. I can show you one. I have one of those.

And speaking of money…

John comes into the editing room in New York and he says, "George."

And with that tone of voice, something's up.

Yes, go on.

He says, "George, Frankie Faison."

"Supposed to play the bum, is now playing the landlord."

What the hell you boys done in here?

"Who do you think should play the bum?" Not this again.

Says, "You know damn well who I think should play the bums."

"We've had this discussion five times, and I'm sick of it."

After all, this topic for George was a sackable offense.

"You bring it up again, you're fired."

I know that.

He's furious.-…

He says, "Okay, I'll call Eddie."

"If Eddie likes it, you call Don, I'll call Ralph."

And the verdict…

Eddie loves it.

Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy were promptly contacted.

And they were happy to do it.

Mortimer, we're back.

And with the Eddie Murphy Cinematic Universe firmly crossed over,

long before those Marvel guys did it, shooting wrapped in New York.

It was off to sunny Los Angeles,

where the future looked bright or dreadful,

according to the prophecies of Nostradamus.

What?

I remember Eddie not wanting to be in LA during that time period.

Apparently, he had seen some old documentary narrated by Orson Welles.

Nostradamus has given us warnings of a great earthquake.

And California was gonna fall into the sea.

Fall into the sea.

Fall into the sea.

Tish-tosh, no one believes that baloney.

He goes, "Yeah, but, I'm not taking any chances."

But Eddie's desire to avoid dire calamity

left John Landis staring down his own impending disaster.

When? Well,

the week they were scheduled to shoot the party at the McDowell house.

Orson apparently convinced Eddie

that California was gonna fall off on, like, Friday.

So, I had to finish Eddie by Thursday.

With no possible way to shoot the entire scene by then,

Landis relied on the ancient art of…

Prophecy. No, camera blocking.

I shot everything with Eddie behind the bar.

This is where you're gonna be working.

I had him looking here, looking there, looking here.

I had people come in and out to make it work.

And when he was done, as predicted…

He left town.

And then I shot the rest of the party without Eddie.

Luckily, the big one never came,

which was just as well for Landis,

because there was an entirely different moving and shaking

scheduled for the LA shoot.

The huge dance number.

You know, I like musicals. Everyone does.

And to choreograph this over-the-top musical extravaganza…

I hired a very young choreographer who was a Laker Girl,

who did some terrific stuff with the cheerleaders, named Paula Abdul.

And if you're wondering if he means that Paula Abdul…

Hi, I'm Paula. There's really only one, isn't there?

Because long before she'd make her mark

as a multi-platinum pop star/talent judge…

You're making me laugh, Paula.

…this former Laker Girl was known for her film and TV choreography.

And my work with Janet Jackson and the Jacksons.

Yes, yes. And them.

I got a call that John Landis wanted to meet me.

And first thing he says, "So, what do you know about African dancing?"

And I said, "A lot." But more like…

Nothing. But only like, because…

People who remember Can't Buy Me Love remember the African anteater dance.

Which Paula had come up with just a year before.

So I had this confidence that I could do the job.

But there was no telling how things would shake out,

because this time she wouldn't have the African stylings of Patrick Dempsey,

nor would she have… There was no music.

And that's because composer, Nile Rodgers, hadn't written it yet.

So, I said, "Well, you're gonna do the dance to a drumbeat."

But it was like a loop of drums.

Um…

Because I had to start choreographing.

Forced to march to the beat of her own drum,

Paula's direction was simple.

Be a showstopper.

And on the day of shooting, the show did stop.

I just remember walking on set

and seeing the opulence of all of the dancers in their costumes.

And Deborah made those wonderful costumes.

That would be John's wife, Deborah.

My name is Deborah Nadoolman Landis. I'm a costume designer.

She designed Raiders of the Lost Ark. Lots of movies.

But Deborah's big deal designs

created one teeny tiny problem for Paula's dancers.

No, not the teeny tiny costumes.

The dancers were literally falling on their butts.

Um… Aren't they barefoot?

They can't do it barefoot.

No, they're wearing jazz shoes.

And these jazz shoes, well,

they weren't exactly grooving with the floor.

There's no rubber on the shoes.

Um… Jazz shoe is a dance shoe.

Thank you for being in my interview. Sorry.

Landis came in, he says, "Greg, see if you can make their feet stick better."

So they coated the floor in…

No. Spray adhesive.

And with the dancers finally able to stick their landings,

the cameras started rolling.

It took an entire day. And when they were done…

The end result was just really well-thought-out and executed.

And a good thing, too, because if it hadn't worked out,

we would never have heard of Paula Abdul again.

My album was about to be released.

Right, yeah, she could've fallen back on that, if she had to.

And so, with this showstopper, shooting stopped on The Quest.

Yes, it was still called that.

The head of marketing came out and said, "We decided it's Coming to America."

Which everyone loved immediately.

Dave and I hated the title, but we didn't have a better alternative.

They also didn't have any more time.

We had to finish completely two weeks before release,

because Technicolor needed two weeks to make prints.

So, those prints arrived at the theaters wet.

Coming in hot and, wet,

Coming to America came to theaters on June 29th, 1988.

And while Paramount waited

to see how their multi-million-dollar investment turned out,

Louie Anderson was wondering how his $661 investment turned out.

I remember just being really excited. Another call to home.

"I'm at a premiere. Can you believe it? For the movie."

"What movie is that?" "Never mind." Anyway.

Hi.

It came to my scene.

See, I'm washing lettuce.

And I held my breath.

And that's where the big bucks start rollin' in.

And I get a huge laugh.

And I went, "Fantastic."

The film debuted at number one…

It was an enormous hit.

…cementing Eddie Murphy as the undisputed box office king of the 1980s.

A new sheriff in town.

Coming to America broke a couple of rules.

It was thought of in the business

that Black romantic comedies would not do well at the box office.

The film grossed $128 million in the US,

and was Paramount's highest-grossing picture of the year.

And another thing,

was that films with all-Black casts wouldn't travel well overseas.

Poppycock. Coming to America made over $161 million over the seas.

In fact, it was the first movie with a Black actor to be a hit in Japan.

Amen. Praise the Lord.

And for the cast and crew, they couldn't quite believe it.

We had a running bet

about what we thought the ultimate gross on the picture would be financially.

None of us were even close.

But it wasn't just the crew

keeping a close eye on the unpredictably tremendous success,

because the movie was hit with five lawsuits, one of which really stung.

A prince was saying he knew Eddie, and that it was ripped off from his life.

No, it wasn't that one. That one went nowhere.

But another one did.

The infamous Art Buchwald story.

Apparently, Buchwald…

A well-respected writer.

…who had a column, I think, in Washington Post.

He claimed the script had been based on his story.

About an African royalty…

Like Prince Akeem. …who came to Washington.

Well, they go to Queens.

And while he was here, you know, there's a coup.

Well, King Joffer's very much in power.

He was rich and now he's gotta be under the radar.

Whoa, whoa. So there's no love story?

Which, as you will notice, is vastly different

than the story of Coming to America.

You are not Akeem. I know that.

But the judge disagreed, and Paramount settled with Art Buchwald.

From then on, I was having to explain to everyone I met who said

"You're the writer of Coming to America?"

"So you stole that idea?" No, I didn't steal the idea.

It was very disappointing, because you have a success and it's tarnished.

Looking back on it,

we should've sued the fuck out of Paramount.

They knew of the connection with the Buchwald case.

And then hired Barry and Dave to write Coming to America anyway.

If they knew that, then we were the victims here.

For many people, including Dave and Barry,

Coming to America was a turning point.

You know, we continued to get work, but I'll be honest with you.

You know, we applied for a membership in the motion picture academy.

We were turned down, and I think that's why.

I think we were damaged.

And for George Folsey, it was the end of a partnership.

Coming to America was the last movie that I did with John.

I've been very lucky that I have the career that I had,

and I owe an awful lot of it to John,

but going through the whole Twilight Zone issue,

um, took its toll.

It was a very stressful five years, and I just kind of needed a break.

And in some ways, I'm sorry that I... That I left.

And in other ways, I'm not.

And just as Coming to America marked the end of George and John's films,

it appeared to do the same for John and Eddie.

I went to the premier, of course, and in the men's room,

I saw Eddie, and he didn't say hello.

I didn't see him again for years.

I mean, Eddie famously ended up on Arsenio's couch and said…

John Landis would have an easier time working with Vic Morrow again.

He made that awful joke.

And after trading some barbs in the press,

their differences seemed truly irreconcilable.

Until 1993, anyway, when John got a call from Paramount.

Sherry Lansing called me up…

and said, "John, would you like to direct Beverly Hills Cop III"?

And I said, "Who's playing Eddie Murphy?"

She said, "No, Eddie suggested you." And I thought, "What?"

"No, he did. Why? Do you still...? Do you not like each other?"

I went over to his house and we talked about it.

I thought the script was lousy.

Hey! That's not fair.

Sorry.

And I said, "You know, Eddie, the script,

I have problems with it." He said, "Well, you'll fix it."

Thank you.

Hollywood is a very bizarrely forgiving place.

I am still fond of Eddie, you know.

Even on Coming to America, I enjoyed working with him because he's so…

You know, he's so gifted.

A collaboration isn't supposed to be,

"We're best friends through all this."

It's a passionate business. It's driven by people who are passionate.

And when you're passionate, you're going to get tempers.

Well, the making of Coming to America

certainly had its fair share of…

Fuck this guy. Fuck you!

What if you fuck it up? Yeah. Passion.

Fuck you, too!

But in this case, it really paid off.

Coming to America is brilliant, because it really functions as two films in one.

For John Landis…

The color of the characters had nothing to do with the plot.

…it was an opportunity to make a movie that transcended the boundaries of color.

It's very much a traditional Hollywood romantic comedy.

To Eddie Murphy…

I was trying to come up with something really different.

…it was a personal story that celebrated Black humor and Black actors.

But then on the other hand, it's very much a culturally specific Black text,

with the humor being rooted in aspects of Black culture.

And while the quite literal fight

to make this movie left some egos bruised,

the film that came of it was something the world had never seen.

If you think about the history of cinema,

Black characters don't get to participate in fairy tales.

And, to me, that's what Coming to America provides.

It provides a fantasy of African royalty. It provides the fairy tale.

I am no longer the Prince of Zamunda. I renounce my throne!

And even decades later,

it's still providing inspiration.

It's lasted three decades plus, and it will continue.

It means so much to so many people.

I heard, at least 20 times in my life,

"What made me wanna come to America was that movie."

When a movie is made that stands the test of time,

there's a bit of a miracle that had to happen.

And no one person is capable of figuring all that out.

Not even one person…

You must be out of your goddamn mind!

…who plays a lot of people.

Or just one writing team, one producer, one director.

Because in the end, the only way this team could make Coming to America

was by coming together.

Wait, there's just one last thing.

My name is John Landis, and I directed Coming to America.

Wasn't so hard, was it, John?