‘Beyond belief’: What it’s really like working with Eddie Murphy

He’s been a superstar for decades, but little is known about his real persona – but his co-stars let slip the comedian’s “extraordinary” flex.

Studies have long linked humour to intelligence, and Eddie Murphy might be the perfect case study.

The US actor, beloved for churning out comedic hits like Beverly Hills Cop, The Nutty Professor, Delirious and Coming to America across his 47-year showbiz career, doesn’t often give much away about his life away from the showbiz glare, but his co-stars have given an insight into one of his “extraordinary” quirks.

Murphy, who fronts his first ever Christmas movie in Amazon Prime Video’s Candy Cane Lane, which hits streaming today, is apparently a walking encyclopaedia when it comes to film, TV and music; from the mainstream to the truly obscure.

While discussing their new film in Los Angeles this week, Murphy’s co-star Tracee Ellis Ross revealed the award-winning funnyman had a habit of dropping bizarre movie references in conversation.

Eddie Murphy and Tracee Ellis Ross attend the world premiere of Amazon Prime Video's "Candy Cane Lane". Picture: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

One of those references was a 1989 avant-garde surreal horror called Santa Sangre by Chilean-French director Alejandro Jodorowsky, which Murphy somehow wove into on-set chats with Ross.

Intrigued, Ross decided to watch the film, declaring, “I’ve never been more disturbed in my life.”

The Black-ish actress added, “What you guys don’t know that I learned during this film is that Eddie is an extraordinary film and music buff beyond belief.

“The references … The film references, music references, they are pretty obscure. Conversations with Eddie, they’re very deep.”

Eddie Murphy stars in his first Christmas movie, Prime Video’s Candy Cane Lane. Picture: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

A smirking Murphy then brought up yet another little-known movie, 1964’s Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, which starred US actress Pia Zadora.

A bewildered Ross was lost at the reference.

Murphy explained: “She [Zadora] was in that movie and then she became a singer and she was married to a guy that owned a casino.”

“That’s a reference. There you go,” Ellis quipped.

The two play husband-and-wife duo Chris and Carol Carver in magical realism extravaganza Candy Cane Lane, which sees Chris unwittingly make a deal with evil elf Pepper [Jillian Bell] – plunging the Carver family’s festive season into anarchy.

Murphy might be game for discussion about unconventional movies of the past, but he was confronted with a host of challenges on the film – a CGI spectacle brimming with Kung Fu sequences, a car chase and many creepy birds.

Candy Cane Lane hits streaming December 1. Picture: Prime Video

Candy Cane Lane director Reginald Hudlin wanted to go big and bold for the festive flick, which was written by The Muppets screenwriter Kelly Younger.

“When you see the special effects shots and stuff like that, those things are really time consuming and it’s awkward,” Murphy said.

“It’s just a lot of work doing a sequence like that. It’s really putting a jigsaw puzzle together when you’re doing those sequences. So it was just long and frustrating.

“Remember [Hudlin] how I was whenever we were shooting [those scenes]?”

Hudlin remembered, “You were irritated.”

Murphy continued, “I don’t have any control and I don’t know what’s going on. [I just] trust in everybody else to make sure it’s right.

“You had everybody’s voice coming in the earpiece and they were back in another part of the stage. And you had to imagine you’re looking at these little people and you’re talking and improvising.

“It was like, a madhouse.”

Murphy plays a father of three children, whose family Christmas is threatened by an evil elf played by Jillian Bell. Picture: Prime Video

Hudlin remembers Murphy’s willingness to dive in differently.

“Eddie Murphy just gave me the leeway to make the movie on the scale that I wanted it to be,” Hudlin told news.com.au

“The great thing about Eddie is, number one, you get to attract the best cast because who doesn’t want to be in a movie with Eddie Murphy? So you get Tracee Ellis Ross and you get Nick Offerman and you get DC Young Fly. They’re like, what? Eddie Murphy? That’s a dream.

“And so you have this A-level cast, and then we’re like, well, it’s Christmas. We’ve got to go big. No, bigger. Everyone knew that. My motto was, more is more.”

As for why it’s taken Murphy so long to star in a Christmas film, the father of 10, who admitted to going over-the-top with his own family during the silly season, said he saw potential for the story to become a cult classic.

“I thought that script was unique, and I thought that it had all the elements that you supposed to have in the Christmas movie where you could watch it over and over again,” Murphy said.

“I know the movies that I watched, the Christmas movies, we watched them every year all the time. I thought this could be one of those kind of movies that families could revisit.”

Candy Cane Lane hits streaming on Amazon Prime Video December 1