Eddie Murphy on Why He Came Back to the Movies for 'Mr. Church'

After a four-year hiatus from the big screen, Eddie Murphy finally makes his return to cinemas this Friday with Mr. Church. He stars as a saintly chef charged with caring — and cooking euphoria-inducing foods — for the girlfriend (Natascha McElhone) and daughter (Britt Robertson) of his late boss. And as the iconic star recently told us, what compelled him to resume acting was nothing more complicated than the fact that he simply loved the new movie’s script.

Speaking with Yahoo Movies’ Kevin Polowy, Murphy reveals that his motivation to make Mr. Church — directed by Driving Miss Daisy’s Bruce Beresford — was that “I had a really strong emotional response to it…It just felt like something I should do.” Plus, with minimal expectations hanging over the small-scale project, Murphy was able to operate pressure-free — especially considering that the movie wasn’t a comedy, and thus destined to be compared to his earlier classics like Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop or Coming to America.

Co-starring Robertson, McElhone, Xavier Sameul, Lucy Fry and Christian Madsen, Mr. Church makes its theatrical debut on Friday.

Watch Murphy choose between his classics ‘Coming to America’ and ‘Trading Places:’