Following in Eddie Murphy’s footsteps is one thing; working with him is next-level. Pete Davidson can attest to this, having gone from being Saturday Night Live alumni to co-stars in the new action-comedy The Pickup, from The Blackening director Tim Story.
The Pickup stars Murphy and Davidson as a pair of armored truck guards who get blackmailed by a sleek thief, played by Keke Palmer, to conspire on a complicated heist. Action and comedy collide as this odd couple of co-workers is thrown way out of their comfort zone, with hilarious results.
Both Davidson and Palmer were honored to work with Murphy on the new film, as they told Mashable Editor-in-Chief Alesha Williams Boyd in a virtual interview.
Working with Murphy “was a dream come true,” Palmer said. “I mean, he’s somebody that I’ve looked up to since I was a kid. I’ve always been a big fan of his work. My whole family is a fan of his work. He’s an icon… Just watching him work was like a master class. And I’m very observant, so I’m just watching everything and soaking in as much as I could.”
For his part, Davidson was quick to share how working with Murphy was a great way to impress his own family. He went on to compare his co-star (“the GOAT”) to one of his uncles, adding, “I think he really likes me.”
In a separate interview, Murphy confirmed this connection, saying, “Me and Pete have so much in common… Pete and I are opposites on paper. He’s tall. He’s 6’3″ and I’m 5’10”. He’s white and I’m Black. But we’re both stand-up comics that became actors. We’re both Saturday Night Live alumni. We both lost our dads when we were, like, eight years old. So we have all that in common.”
Murphy also noted that Davidson’s role in The Pickup would have been the kind of role he’d have been right for not long ago, comparing the part to his famous Beverly Hills Cop persona, Axel Foley.
“I’m the voice of reason [in The Pickup]. In most of the action-comedies that I’ve done,” Murphy explains, “I’d have been the Pete character, the young wild guy bouncing off the walls. But in this movie — if this were 48 Hours, I’d be playing Nick Nolte’s character. So now I have to be funny from this perspective. And that was cool.”
It was cool for Davidson, too, who said, “Everybody loves and wants to be in Eddie’s world. There’s a very select few that get to do that, and I’m honored to be able to.”
As for Murphy, he notes, “I’d love to do another movie with Pete.” So could a The Pickup 2 be a possibility? We’ll see.
The Pickup debuts on Prime Video on Aug. 6.
Mashable staff contributed to this report.