Eddie Murphy Names Ghostbusters, Rush Hour, Roger Rabbit as His Biggest “What Ifs”

Eddie Murphy is looking back on three famous roles that got away, saying he still wishes he had taken parts in Ghostbusters, Rush Hour, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. In an interview promoting his Netflix documentary Being Eddie, the comedian and actor said those projects are the ones he most often thinks about when people ask what he regrets passing on, since each went on to become a major box office and pop-culture force.

Murphy was in demand in the early 1980s after Trading Places and his breakout on Saturday Night Live, and the Ghostbusters team crafted a role for him that later evolved into Winston Zeddemore. Murphy said he chose to make Beverly Hills Cop instead, a decision that cemented his movie stardom in 1984. He stressed that he does not view the choice as a career mistake, yet he can’t help picturing the version of Ghostbusters that might have existed with him in the ensemble.

He also revisited Rush Hour, noting that he was offered a lead when the action-comedy was coming together in the late 1990s. Murphy has talked before about turning that down and making Holy Man, and he now jokes that it was a clear misread of how audiences were shifting at the time. Rush Hour became a global hit and launched a franchise, giving his “what if” list a second anchor outside the 1980s.

The third missed opportunity was Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Murphy said the pitch sounded too strange to him then, and he couldn’t imagine how a noir mystery built around animated co-stars would land. The 1988 film later earned a reputation as a technical and commercial breakthrough, making his early skepticism feel, in hindsight, too cautious.

Murphy framed the regrets without resentment. He noted that saying yes to one film often means saying no to another, and his career has been shaped by plenty of calls that paid off, from Coming to America and The Nutty Professor to his long-running role as Donkey in Shrek. His latest reflections arrive as he lines up another busy stretch, including voice work on Shrek 5, with Being Eddie placing those past choices inside a career built on speed, instinct, and risk.