Coming to America: Eddie Murphy Reveals How Louie Anderson Was Cast

Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall recently revealed why Louie Anderson was cast in Coming to America. It turns out some executives at the movie studio were not too keen on having a cast without any white actors in it. In a meeting with the management, the duo was presented with a list of actors for them to choose from, and that was that. Murphy and Hall clearly get a kick out of this story now. Both comedians absolutely adore Anderson's work, and that's why they selected him. But, it is funny to imagine such a request coming down in the first place. A lot of people were surprised to see the actor asked back for the sequel as well, but Anderson is a part of the franchise and it just makes sense. Murphy and his co-star explained the entire ordeal on Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week and the host couldn't contain his laughter.

"I love Louie, but I think we were forced to put Louie in it," Hall revealed. "We were forced to put in a white person."

Murphy explained, "They were like, 'There has to be a white person in the movie.' I was like, 'What?' So who was the funniest white guy around? We knew Louie was cool, so that's how Louie got in the movie."

Then Hall elaborated, "It was official, I had a list. They gave me a list with three white guys. They said, 'Who would you rather work with?' I said, 'Louie.'"

The series star talked to Extra about having the sequel become a thing at all. It's a treat for longtime fans, but it didn't look very likely.

"We never planned on making a sequel to the movie," Murphy said in the interview. "We had done the movie and it was in the past. But the movie stayed around. Of all the movies that I've done over the last 40 years, Coming to America is the only one that ... has a cult following," Murphy continued. "... And then, maybe around six, five years ago, I got an idea. Then it took four years for it to come together."

Here's a look at the official synopsis for Coming 2 America:

"Set in the lush and royal country of Zamunda, newly-crowned King Akeem (Eddie Murphy) and his trusted confidante Semmi(Arsenio Hall) embark on an all-new hilarious adventure that has them traversing the globe from their great African nation to the borough of Queens, New York – where it all began."

Are you amped for Coming 2 America? Let us know down in the comments!