‘The Pink Panther’ Film Series Is Relaunching Again, This Time With Eddie Murphy As Inspector Clouseau: “He’s Black, For Sure”
Another classic film character is being reinvented with a race swap, and this time Hollywood is thinking pink. Bumbling French detective Jacques Clouseau will be played in his next adventure by a comedic actor who made this type of reimagining a trademark of his career – Eddie Murphy.
“(I’ve) already started ‘Shrek 5.’ And I’m going to be – I’m Inspector Clouseau in the next ‘Pink Panther,'” Murphy confirmed when speaking with Al Roker on The Today Show recently. He repeated he was “the new Clouseau” to a surprised Roker.
Murphy coyly replied, “Maybe,” and laughed when asked if his Clouseau would be French. “Well, he has to be French, but he could also be Haitian. I will tell you, he’s Black. He’s Black, for sure,” he said.
Inspector Clouseau originated with English actor and comedian Peter Sellers in the 1963 film The Pink Panther. The film’s title, though virtually synonymous with Sellers and the character, is actually a reference to a precious diamond that a thief is after.
Sellers reprised the role in several sequels, including A Shot in the Dark, The Return of the Pink Panther, and The Pink Panther Strikes Again, throughout the 60s and 70s until his death in 1980. Steve Martin would take over the role for two films in the late 2000s that some critics felt were unnecessary.
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Eddie Murphy has been circling the role of Clouseau for about two years, and can finally say he has closed the deal. Race swaps tend to get a mixed to negative reaction along predictable lines, but for the SNL alum, it’s nothing new.
Murphy starred in remakes of Dr. Dolittle and The Nutty Professor. Both were based on films from the 60s, and both became popular franchises. If race-swapping is a gamble, in Murphy’s case, it can pay off. Conversely, when Robert Downey, Jr., tried to go back to basics with Dolittle, it didn’t work.
Beyond The Pink Panther, Murphy is also busy with a new Shrek, as he said, along with a biopic on funk pioneer George Clinton and action comedy The Pickup, costarring Keke Palmer.
