After losing the best supporting actor prize for his portrayal of James “Thunder” Early in “Dreamgirls,” Eddie Murphy famously skipped the 2007 Academy Awards. But the early departure wasn’t motivated by resentment. The star stated in an appearance with Entertainment Weekly that he didn’t want to be “the sympathy guy all night” since some of the participants/ friends felt sorry for him.
“What happened was I was at the Oscars, I had lost, and then people kept coming over to me and kept [patting] me on the shoulder,” Murphy said. “Clint Eastwood came and rubbed my shoulder. And I was like, ‘Oh, no, no, I’m not gonna be this guy all night. Let’s just leave.’ I didn’t storm out. I was like, ‘I’m not gonna be the sympathy guy all night.’”
Murphy remembered attending an early showing of “Little Miss Sunshine.” He claimed to be quite impressed by Arkin’s performance and to have prophesied that he would win the Oscar.
“Jeff Katzenberg invited me over to see ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ six months before it came out in the theaters, and I literally watched the movie and I watched Alan — and I hadn’t been nominated or anything yet — and I watched the movie and I turned to Jeff afterwards and I said, ‘Now that performance right there is one of those performances that will steal somebody’s Oscar.’ I said those exact words,” Murphy said. “I was like, ‘He could steal somebody’s Oscar,’ then he stole mine.”
“No, I don’t feel like he stole mine,” he continued, laughing.
