You had to coordinate to make it look like you got a You didn’t have but three shirtsĪnd two pairs of pants. I’m from Detroit, and you had to coordinate. Room, we’ll go from there.” When I was a kid, we used to say you got to coordinate. Jackson?” Eddie saw the line,Īnd he told Martin to keep walking. That talked to me and, “How you doing, Mr. To say.” Actually, you know, at first, it was Martin who was the one Said, “Eddie, when I come through the door of the home, this is what I’m going I went into the dressing room and started writing stuff down.

Executives from Paramount want to see if I know what I’m talking about.” I asked again, “Are you sure there’s no lines at all?” Eddie said, “Spoon, make it real funny because people from Paramount are here. I said, “Boy, this is me right here!” This is me. I went through a whole bunch of stuff, and I saw the mushroom shirt, the mushroom belt and a mushroom inside the jacket. You’re going to make it funny.” I said, “I am?” They sent me to wardrobe to pick what I wanted. So when I got off the plane, I asked, “What’s up? Where the script?” They told me, “There ain’t no script. see what the hell Eddie was talking about. Paramount had some of the hierarchy from the studio there to. Paramount got upset that Eddie had taken over this scene. Don’t worry about it.” Reginald Hudlin called me and said, “Eddie wants you to be David Alan Grier’s father.” So me and BeBe Drake-Massey, who was my wife in another Reginald movie, House Party, were called to do this. Who is this Spoon? That Spoon played David Alan Grier’s father doesn’t sound funny.” Eddie told them, “Spoon will make it funny. JW: They were almost done with the movie, and they said they were over budget. That’s why it was so funny.ĮBONY: Why didn’t Paramount want it in the movie?

Paramount didn’t want that scene in because it was not in the script. And so I come to the party as a country bumpkin, then he feels embarrassed. You know, Eddie Murphy said it’d be real funny to Spoon-that’s what they called me-play David Alan Grier’s character’s father in the movie. JW: Well, that role was not even in the movie. A lot of Black people like to have movies that show characters like I ended up playing.ĮBONY: What do you think about your role? People had jobs, and everybody was looking sharp and beautiful. It just shows Black people in a positive light. John Witherspoon: I think it was a wonderful movie. Comedian-actor John Witherspoon shined light on how his unforgettable scene at the dinner table would have been axed from the flick had it not been for the insistence of one man: Eddie Murphy.ĮBONY: To what would you attribute the movie’s long-standing appeal? In December 2011, cast members of the star-studded box office smash spoke with EBONY about the film’s upcoming 20 th anniversary the following year, especially about good times on the set and moments that were almost missed.

Directed by Reginald Hudlin, whose brother Warrington Hudlin served as producer, it had a budget of $41 million but would go on to earn more than $131 million. There’s no denying that Boomerang is a cult classic in the paradigm of Black films. Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn Share on Email

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