Eddie Murphy To Tackle Sampling Controversy in Netflix Comedy ‘Soul Soul Soul’
Eddie Murphy has a new Netflix comedy in the works and it's aimed squarely at hip-hop. The movie is called Soul Soul Soul: The Murray Murray Story, and its a mockumentary-style spoof featuring Murphy as a 60s soul legend who hates the fact that a new rap artist has sampled a hit of his from 1962. So Murray works to reform his old band and plans to come after hip-hop.
Netflix is developing the comedy Soul Soul Soul: The Murray Murray Story.
Writer Chris Case, (Legit, Yahoo's Sin City Saints) will tackle the script. Murphy's old buddy Brett Ratner is in talks to direct the project. Both are expected to see the script before any deals are finalized. Murphy and Ratner worked together on 2011s Tower Heist. Murphy's most recent film was the indie drama Mr. Church. His last major release was 2012s A Thousand Words.
Playing an old soul singer isn't new territory for Murphy; who famously spoofed James Brown during his days on SNL and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2007 for his performance as Jimmy "Thunder" Early in the movie adaptation of Dreamgirls.
And of course, Murphy has long maintained a career as an R&B singer as an offshoot of his work as an actor.
The subject matter echoes the battles that hip-hop artists faced most infamously in the late 80s and early 90s, when elder artists such as Brown sought litigation against artists for sampling their work. The lawsuits led to stricter sampling laws. It also comes on the heels of high profile cases of copyright infringement involving Tom Petty, who settled with Sam Smith over copyright issues surrounding "Stay With Me," and the estate of Marvin Gaye, which won a lawsuit against Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke over their hit "Blurred Lines."
Brian Grazer and Tyler Mitchell will produce Soul Soul Soul.