Coming to America is a cult classic comedy that has remained prominent for decades now, but according to one of the stars of the film, the Eddie Murphy-led comedy almost did not happen. Arsenio Hall, who starred as Murphy’s character’s sidekick, Semmi, recently spoke about how Paramount initially turned down the original film. Coming to America became a critical and commercial success upon release.
Arsenio Hall says Paramount originally turned down Coming to America
Arsenio Hall, one of the primary stars of Coming to America, spoke out about how the film was almost canceled before it went on to become a box office success and a cult classic.
During his appearance in the latest episode of SiriusXM’s Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend podcast, the 70-year-old actor said, “They turned Coming to America down.” He continued, “We went and pitched it at Paramount and they said, ‘No, thank you.’ And we were like, ‘Give us some notes. What should we do? ‘And they were like, ‘We’re not sure, but you know, it’s a fish out of water. We’ve seen this a billion times.’”
Hall said that the first copy of the film did not feature all the characters that Murphy ended up playing in the final version. “And Coming to America at that time didn’t have the barbershop. It didn’t have the preacher. It didn’t have Eddie as the old Jewish man,” Hall added.
Hall said that Pramount gave them two notes. “He said, ‘Everybody wants to see Eddie do characters again. Everybody misses SNL. How about if the people you meet in America are played by Eddie?’ And I was sitting there saying, ‘Could I get y’all a drink?’ And it’s Eddie that said, ‘Hey, I saw Arsenio do stand up on this HBO thing. And he does this thing about Jesse Jackson. I know he can do a great preacher and we can come up with some barbers.’”
Hall continued, “And Eddie came up with the specific characters…And I just sat there shaking because I’m like, I got to do characters with Eddie Murphy. That’s like saying, you know, check Jordan. Lock that motherf**ker down. So I was a nervous wreck going into Coming to America.”
The film went on to gross an estimated $288.8–$350 million during its run, making it a huge success.
