Murphy, Davidson deliver laughs together
Starring opposite Murphy, 64, was "a bucket list thing" for Davidson, 31, who had admired Murphy's work since he was seven.
Unlike their characters, the two had much in common.
"Pete comes from SNL. He's a standup comic. We're both from the East Coast," said Murphy. "I love to get into a scene with somebody else that's funny, improvise with them and start playing, I love it."
On a routine round of cash pickups, Murphy's Russell and Davidson's Travis get targeted by criminals. Things get personal when Travis discovers that the thieves are led by his one-night-stand from the night before, played by Keke Palmer, and the life of Russell's hot-headed wife, played by Eva Longoria, comes under threat. The duo must pull together to save the day.
The script, by Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider, served as their blueprint and director Tim Story encouraged them to go off it, the two said.
"We would do one as written and then Tim and everyone was like, 'Just go nuts' and we would end up just trying to one-up each other, we were just trying to make each other laugh," said Davidson.
"They were improvising constantly and it was really sweet to see. It's so cool because you see two different generations," added Palmer.
The generational differences also seeped into the scenes, with the fighting taking its toll on Russell's body.
"Usually in these types of movies or my early movies like the 'Beverly Hills Cop' and 48 Hrs., I was the young maverick and now I'm the older guy," said Murphy.
The Pickup starts streaming on Prime Video on August 6.
As per Variety, Murphy's next big screen project is reprising his role as Donkey in Shrek 5. He's also signed on for a Donkey spin-off, which he'll start filming in September, according to Screenrant.
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