Trivia / The Nutty Professor (1996)

• Acting for Two: Eddie Murphy plays the lead. He also plays the alternate persona. And a white celebrity fitness instructor... And his entire family (barring one child).
• Billing Displacement: Despite only appearing fairly briefly in the film's latter stages, James Coburn is billed above Larry Miller, who has the much more substantial part of Dean Richmond. Likewise, Dave Chappelle gets higher billing than John Ales, despite the former only appearing in two scenes and the latter having a pretty substantial role in the film.
• Career Resurrection: While Eddie Murphy was by no means short on box office successes during the '90s, his work since 1989's Harlem Nights was constantly panned by critics, and the general sentiment among audiences was that he had fallen into a creative rut. This film, meanwhile, was Murphy's first since 1988's Coming to America to be as beloved as it was successful, renewing public interest in him as a leading man and comedian.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Eddie Murphy said that even though he was playing an enormously overweight character, he had to keep himself in the best physical shape of his career. This was because he needed to look svelte and athletic as Buddy Love and also because he needed to be comfortable while wearing the heavy appliances and prosthetics for his scenes as the Klump family members.
• Harpo Does Something Funny: Eddie Murphy and Dave Chappelle mostly improvised their dialogue.
• Reality Subtext: Siskel & Ebert noted that the film came off a bit like an apology from Murphy for much of his recent work, with Buddy Love being the typical unsympathetic character he'd spent a lot of time playing, while Professor Klump is a more likable character that people want to see more of.
• What Could Have Been
  • Eddie Murphy wanted John Landis to direct, but he was in no hurry to work with Murphy again after the disastrous production of Beverly Hills Cop III, and passed on it.
  • Jerry Lewis turned down an offer to cameo because of his problems with all the fart jokes.
  • Andrew "Dice" Clay at one point was set to star.
  • Consideration was briefly given to superimposing Murphy's face on Jamal Mixon's body during the dinner scenes. However, the effects tests were deemed unsatisfactory, and so Mixon became the only actor other than Murphy to play a member of the Klump family in this film or its sequel.
  • Murphy told Oprah Winfrey that the studio wanted real actors to play the Klumps, since hiring four additional actors would be much cheaper than the additional filming days required for Murphy to undergo multiple costume and makeup changes. Murphy devised a special screen test with makeup artist Rick Baker, in which he portrayed Mama and Grandma Klump, to convince the studio executives otherwise.
  • Once it was settled that Murphy would play multiple roles, it was also planned that he would play Reggie the insult comic, but then he encountered rising comedian Dave Chappelle and suggested that he be given the part instead.

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