A film project that was already fairly “Huh, really?” got even “Huh, really?”-er today, as THR reports that Wesley Snipes has signed on to co-star in Coming 2 America. The Eddie Murphy/Arsenio Hall sequel—a 31-years-later follow-up to the odyssey of Prince Akeem, Soul Glo, and the McDowell’s restaurant dynasty—is being directed by Craig Brewer, best known for Hustle And Flow. (The original was directed by John Landis, although, infamously, not without a great deal of friction between himself and Murphy on the set.)
Snipes—who worked with Murphy and Brewer on the upcoming Rudy Ray Moore biopic, Dolemite Is My Name—will reportedly play General Izzi, a man who runs a country near Akeem’s fictional land of Zamunda. (At long last, we said to ourselves, a Coming To America willing to truly engage with the nuances of African power politics and strongmen military leaders!) Meanwhile, Akeem himself will be, well, returning to the States—there’s gotta be a catchier, more Neil Diamond-y phrase for that, right?—in pursuit of his long-lost son. The film is currently aimed at an August 7, 2020 release date.
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The last time I re-watched this movie, I’d forgotten that Louie Anderson is in it and basically the only white cast member. And then I found out Louie Anderson is still alive, which was weird. He’s one of those guys I assume died in, like, 2008.
Check out “Baskets” which he won an Emmy for a few years ago. He’s plays the main character’s mother, doing an impression of his own mother and he’s really incredible in it.
The funny thing is that I know about that show and remember seeing promos with him in it, but then a week will go by and I’ll go back to assuming he’s been dead for a decade.
I always automatically think Ron Perlman’s name is Wolfgang Puck every time I think or see a picture of him and 9 out of 10 times have to google “Hellboy actor” to figure out his actual name.
Every time I see Scott Glenn I start to call him Kevin something, but I know that’s not right so I force myself to think, and I’ll either remember “Scott Glenn” right away or I’ll have to IMDB one of the movies he’s been in to refresh my memory. I dunno what it is, he just looks like a Kevin to me.
Maybe because the first thing I remember seeing him in was Silverado with KEVIN Kline and KEVIN Costner. See also: Me wanting to call Kevin Kline Mandy Patinkin.
Hey, it’s also got Jake Steinfeld!
“is this shitty enough for you?”
I have watched the first, like, twenty minutes of this film a tonne of times and yet somehow never seen the whole thing. I think there’s always been something else I had to do before I got any further.
I’m hoping he’ll be in the new one, still climbing the McDowell’s ladder.
i hope he is in the sequel and has finally made it to assistant manager where the big bucks start rolling in.
also, the Duke brothers are also in it, albeit for about 10 seconds. “Randolph! We’re BACK!!!”
Eddie MurphyArsenio HallJohn AmosEriq LaSalleLouie AndersonJames Earl JonesSamuel L. JacksonJohn AmechiRalph BellamySo many famous names packed into one movie!
What the fuck ever happened to Eriq LaSalle? He was on the George Clooney superstar handsome guy career path and then, poof, gone.
And he knew better than to bring up Rocky Marciano.
Damn, there goes another one of my “Dead or Canadian?” gameshow clues…
I watched the first one recently (still holds up like a motherfucker), and it could totally work as a Black Panther prequel. This is the only pic I could find and it’s clearly from Halloween, but there were a few families that dressed up as King Jaffe Joffer and the whole crew for opening night of Black Panther. So awesome.
This is awesome! The kids look like they’re having fun, and I love the tiny embroidered McDowell’s M on the vest. What an eye for detail!
Isn’t it great? There are a lot of people who did it if you look. There’s one floating around out there that has a bunch of kids dressed up as the Dora Milaje from Black Panther standing all around them.
THAT’S NOT AN ‘M’ THOSE ARE GOLDEN ARCS–McDowell’s Management
YEAH
I love this so much it hurts my head.
If they knocked on my door on Halloween, I would just give them my bank cards.
Soul Glo kid is CRUSHING it. Good job mom and dad!
That’s Jackson Heights’ own Mr. Randy Watson!
Oh shit, you’re right! Still sporting some serious activator, though!
That is the cutest, best family Halloween costume I’ve ever seen.
This just makes me miss Chappelle’s Show.
The Wesley Snipes?
Funniest recurring minor character on that show. I made a compilation of his best moments, but nbc took it off YouTube.
Ill take “sequels I would have been interested in 20 years ago” for $100, Alex.
Rents due, mother fucker!
I hope Zamunda has more forgiving tax laws.
I’m cautiously optimistic. I mean, sure, Eddie Murphy hasn’t done anything good in over twenty years, but I can still hope, man.
He was in Tower Heist! All I remember about that movie is leaving the theater SO MAD because they just casually had Chinese New Year occur shortly before Thanksgiving. But I’m pretty sure Eddie Murphy was in there!
I’ll remind you, sir, that Bowfinger was just 20 years ago.
Dreamgirls disagrees with you there. The only good thing he’s done since Bowfinger.
First a Blood and Bone adaptation and now this?Be still, my beating heart.
Lol clicked that link and now I’m on Playboy at work. WHOOPSY!
What’s the odds on this doing the same as the recent Shaft remake, and getting theatrical release in the US and Netflix for the rest of the world. Absolutely no international market for this anymore. What was the last Eddie Murphy pic which actually got any serious theatrical release overseas? Norbit?
Can we get a NSFW tag next to that link to the article about friction on the set of the film? It links to a story on playboy.com, which threw up a big red flag on my work computer just now 🙁