EDDIE MURPHY IS THE KLUMP FAMILY IN `Nutty Professor II' CO-STARRING JANET JACKSON

Jet, July 31, 2000

Eddie Murphy is back. All six of him! He is all of the bizarre, lovable and large Klumps in Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, a film that co-stars Janet Jackson.

In the sequel to the 1996 film that pulled in more than $250 million, superobese Professor Sherman Klump is about to get married to his beautiful colleague Denise Gaines (Jackson), who does cutting-edge DNA research. All the eccentric Klumps are excited that shy Sherman is finally lucky enough to settle down. The only problem is slim and slick Buddy Love, Sherman's alter ego. Sherman thought he'd buried the meddlesome Buddy in his subconscious, but the slim and trim Buddy is determined to make it on his own.

Buddy appears at the most inopportune times in Sherman's life, even laying claim to the professor's most celebrated invention, a revolutionary youth serum. The serum can shave off years temporarily, making it a much sought-after property. To keep it from Buddy, Sherman hides it in the Klump home.

Murphy is Sherman, Mama, Granny, Papa and Ernie Klump as well as Buddy Love.

Other cast members include Larry Miller, John Ales, Gabriel Williams, Anna Maria Horsford, Jamal Mixon, Wanda Sykes, Richard Gant and Miguel A. Nunez Jr., Kym E. Whitley and singer Freda Payne.

One scene sure to have filmgoers falling out of their seats is an erotic one that involves Buddy and 80-year-old toothless Granny Klump. She may be 80, but she still has a ton of fire left in her, especially the sexual variety.

"I like Buddy Love in this film," Murphy said. "He's more aggressive. Before, he was just trying to take Sherman's girl and mess his life up, but now he's out and all over the place. There's just a lot more to play with."

In the first film, the Klumps were only in a couple of dinner scenes in the movie. But were they memorable! This time Murphy was determined to get them up from the table. "The challenge in this film was to get them up and move them around and have them be different heights and have them have different postures and walks and have them interact," he pointed out.

This time Sherman's love interest is Janet Jackson. Jada Pinkett Smith was his girlfriend in the first Nutty Professor movie.

Praising Jackson, Murphy said: "I've known for years that she's a good actress. I remember watching her on TV in `Good Times' when she was just a little girl. There was some episode where she was this little abused girl and I remember the whole house sitting around crying. Now, she's a superstar and a really talented woman. Janet is like a superstar. It was like `Wow, I'm with a superstar on the set.'"

Jackson said the hardest part of working on Nutty Professor II was keeping a straight face. "I think I ruined a couple of takes because you can hear me laughing actually," she said. "But, it's very difficult keeping a straight face with Eddie."

She said her character really loves the 400-pound professor because she's able to look beyond all the weight. "It's what's on the inside and that truly is what you fall in love with," she added. "He has a brilliant mind. He's very kind. He's a sweetheart. And that's what every girl really, really wants."

Jackson hasn't been seen onscreen since she was in John Singleton's Poetic Justice. However, she has continued her stellar music career, churning out hit albums.

She recalled her mother's reaction when she told her she'd be doing the Nutty Professor sequel. "She said, `So, are you going to be passing gas around the table like everybody else?' And I said, `Well, uh, as of right now, I don't think so.' That was the first thing out of her mouth. She said, `That was so silly. Are you going to be farting around the table?' It was very strange."

Even though the movie was fun for her every day, Jackson said it was still challenging to sit and act opposite just a visual effect sometimes since Murphy is all six Klumps. "There's this giant blue thing with an X on it and that's supposed to be Buddy Love or Sherman or someone," she explained. "And you just have to pretend as if you're acting or looking at that character, connecting in some sort of way. It is difficult because a lot of times they'll just put an X or a tennis ball at the end of a stand and that is your eyeline and that is who you are speaking to. I've seen it done by other actors before. But, it's my first time."

Murphy said going from one Klump character to another wasn't difficult for him at all. "All of this stuff is hard for me if I'm doing a bad movie and we have a bad script and I'm working with stupid, a--hole jerk actors," he said. "But we really had a good crew and a really good, talented director (Peter Segal). And I'm doing the kind of thing that I like to do."

Of all the characters, he said getting made up for Granny Klump took the longest time."I think she had 12 different pieces they had to put on. They do your eyes and hands. So, you might be in the chair for four or five hours. That's the one thing that was hard about this movie, the make-up process. It's just tedious to sit there."