Black comedy’s finest made their way to Westwood, California for the red carpet premiere of Dolemite Is My Name, Netflix’s newest film starring the incomparable Eddie Murphy.
Held at the Regency Theater, actors and comedians Wesley Snipes, Craig Robinson, Keegan-Michael Key chatted with VIBE about their roles, working with the film’s director Craig Brewer and the inspirational story of the legendary blaxploitation actor Rudy Ray Moore
“I just had a screening in my hometown of Memphis and all these young rappers came up to me and they were emotional,” Brewer said. “They were like, ‘I didn’t know anything about this guy and his story is a lot like mine.'”
“It was an inspiration because you looked a guy who knew nothing about making a movie,” said actor-comedian Keenen Ivory Wayans. “He no background in filmmaking and he did it.”
Welsey Snipes added, “You’ll come out of here laughing. You’ll come out of here inspired, but it also teaches you to never let go of the dream and never let go of the vision. Then sooner or later, you’ll be right on time.”
When asked about his top 5 comedians of all time, Eddie Murphy replied. “The king is Richard Pryor. That’s forever. Nobody is half-way close. He is the ceiling of the artform. The other four don’t count. It’s Richard.”
Watch our full interviews above. Dolemite Is My Name is on Netflix now.