Eddie Murphy to Play Rudy Ray Moore in Upcoming Netflix Flick Based on the DOLEMITE Star

According to Deadline, Eddie Murphy is about to return to the screen for the first time in awhile, in a Netflix film which begins production June 12 about the life of Rudy Ray Moore, the star of the blaxploitation Dolemite films. Hustle and Flow's Craig Brewer is directing a script by Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski, the writing team behind such quirky biographical films as Big Eyes, Ed Wood and The People Vs. Larry Flynt.

Rudy Ray Moore is perhaps best known for financing and starring in Dolemite, which appeared in 1975 and has been described as "one of the great blaxploitation movies" of the 1970s. The character was "the ultimate ghetto hero: a bad dude, profane, skilled at kung-fu, DRESSED TO KILL and hell-bent on protecting the community from evil menaces. He was a pimp with a kung-fu-fighting clique of prostitutes and he was known for his sexual prowess." The film was successful and was followed by The Human Tornado, The Monkey Hustle, and Petey Wheatstraw: The Devil's Son-in-Law. Moore continued to release albums that appealed to his enduring fanbase through the 1970s and 1980s, but little of his work reached the mainstream white audience. His "rapid-fire rhyming salaciousness exceeded the wildest excesses" of Foxx and Pryor, and his highly explicit style kept him off television and major films.

Eddie Murphy's comic talent was evident from an early age. By 15 he was writing and performing his own routines at youth centers, local bars, and his high school auditorium. Eventually, Murphy made it to a Manhattan showcase, The Comic Strip. In 1980, at the age of 19, Murphy joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live," where he quickly became a featured player. By the end of his first season, he had moved up to star status. Murphy went on to have a successful stand-up and film career that has spanned 30 years and includes box-office hits such as "48 Hrs.," "Delirious," "Beverly Hills Cop," "Raw," "Trading Places," "Coming to America," "The Nutty Professor" and "Shrek" franchises, and the critically acclaimed "Dreamgirls," for which he received the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Drama and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

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Photo Credit: Sara De Boer/Retna Ltd.