Eddie Murphy Returns Big In Craig Brewer Helmed Flick

Netflix will deliver a history lesson Friday October 25th with Dolemite Is My Name, the original movie about the late comedian and actor Rudy Ray Moore. Dolemite Is My Name — directed by Craig Brewer and written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewsk — tells the story of Moore’s hard-fought battle to get his film made. 

Murphy stars as Moore, an aging, charismatic entertainer who never made it big, but is determined to change that. The film also stars Keegan-Michael Key, Wesley Snipes, Da’Vine Joy Randolph Mike Epps, Craig Robinson, Tituss Burgess, Snoop Dogg, T.I., and Chris Rock. See the trailer at the bottom of the post.

Luenell commented in this week’s LA Times that “Dolemite” and Moore’s subsequent films played to the rafters. “He was making them for everybody, but they resonated more with the black community,” she said. “They might have been a little corny, but hey, that’s all he had! And to see somebody beat the Man sometimes and win … it was goofy and entertaining.”

Luenell continued sharing a connection to the real Moore: A few years before his death, she worked alongside him performing comedy shows, getting to know him on the road.

“Rudy was already a legend in my mind when I got a chance to work with him,” she said. “When the opportunity came, I was like, ‘I get to do a show with Rudy Ray Moore?!’ He was already a little older, but he was still the icon everybody was falling over themselves trying to get a picture with him. That was back in the old Kodak photo days!”

They would sit together and she’d ask about his career, said Luenell, who kept vintage Dolemite merch Moore gifted to her. “He did what nobody could do. It’s like he says in the movie: If they close one door, I’ll go into another one. I don’t know if he’d ever had aspirations of being an actor, producer or director before he got doors slammed in his face, but I know that’s what he became.”

More Dolemite red carpet pics here: