The Red Envelope: ‘Dolemite’ Is His Name And Getting Motherf—ing Oscar Nominations Is His Game

Welcome to the Red Envelope, a weekly series focused on Netflix’s forthcoming domination of the 92nd Academy Awards. Read the previous entries on Marriage Story, The Irishman, and The Two Popes.

Some facts about Eddie Murphy‘s last decade, coming into 2019: Murphy starred in three live-action movies, 2011’s Tower Heist ($78 million in North American grosses), 2012’s A Thousand Words ($18 million in North American grosses), and 2016’s Mr. Church ($685,000 in North American grosses); he almost hosted the 2012 Oscars but bowed out in the wake of producer Brett Ratner’s ouster over Ratner’s use of a gay slur; he appeared during the Saturday Night Live 40th anniversary special, but didn’t tell any jokes. (Murphy later said the show wanted him to do a Bill Cosby bit. “There’s nothing funny about it,” he told the Washington Post in 2015. “If you get up there and you crack jokes about him, you’re just hurting people.”) When compared to his meteoric ’80s rise (saving SNL, starring in legendary comedies like 48 Hrs., Trading Places, and the Beverly Hills Cop franchise right out the gate) and late ’90s pivot to family blockbusters (the Shrek franchise, Doctor Doolittle, The Nutty Professor films), the first nine years of this decade could only be considered Murphy’s fallow period. Just don’t tell Murphy.

“Man, I’ve been making movies for almost 40 years, and every few years when I do a movie, they say I’m coming back,” Murphy told Indiewire in a recent interview. “I’m like, ‘Okay, that’s how you want to spin it.’ I’ve been making movies for almost 40 years. And my movies have made so much money. The whole comeback and stuff, you can’t really say that.”

Maybe not, but Oscar narratives weren’t born on the back of “you can’t really say that.” And so, here in 2019, Eddie Murphy is officially “back” (even if he thinks he never left) with the help of Netflix. Murphy played Rudy Ray Moore in the streamer’s Dolemite Is My Name, an Ed Woodian bio-pic from the writers of Ed Wood that gave Murphy his best reviews since 1999’s Bowfinger. As if to further prove he’s still the funniest man alive, Murphy then went back to Saturday Night Live to host the Dec. 21 show with plenty of jokes and viewers (Murphy’s hilarious episode was the highest-rated SNL episode in two years). It’s all trending toward an Oscar nomination, but will it happen?

Every week between now and when the Oscar nominations are announced, Decider will investigate a Netflix awards contender and definitively establish its awards bona fides. Who’s watching? The Red Envelope.

This week: Craig Brewer’s Dolemite Is My Name, out on Netflix right now.

A BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Based on a script by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood, American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson) and directed by Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow), Dolemite Is My Name tells the inspirational story Rudy Ray Moore (Murphy), a struggling musician and comedian in 1970s Hollywood who rose to fame during the Blaxploitation era by creating the foul-mouthed alter-ego Dolemite and starring in a series of hit films.

HOW MANY OSCAR NOMINATIONS WILL DOLEMITE IS MY NAME GET?

THE LOCKS: As noted in this space previously, this year’s best actor race is absolutely loaded. But Murphy has the quality of performance and juicy comeback narrative that should easily place him among the top five. So, will that happen? Our guess is yes, but beware of a snub. Murphy’s history with the Academy is a bit fraught. He was last nominated at the 2007 Oscars for his role in Dreamgirls, but despite being considered a heavy favorite, he lost to Little Miss Sunshine costar Alan Arkin and walked out of the ceremony shortly after the result was announced. Then there were the aforementioned 2012 Oscars when Murphy stepped down as host. “This is like a big middle-finger to the Academy and to the industry,” an unnamed Academy member told The Hollywood Reporter at the time.

So, not great, Bob. But that was seven years ago and the Academy has slowly changed its membership since, putting a priority on diversity and inclusion. At the Governors Awards in October, in front of Academy members and Hollywood glitterati, Jamie Foxx pulled Murphy on stage to big cheers from the crowd to simply praise the Dolemite star. During Murphy’s SNL appearance, he was surrounded by Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan, and Kenan Thompson. It felt like a moment because it WAS a moment. Murphy’s baggage with the Academy is hopefully old news by now; give him the nomination.

THE POSSIBILITIES: The best part of Dolemite Is My Name is that it’s not just the Eddie Murphy Show. Wesley Snipes is hilarious as D’Urville Martin, kind of doing a Val Kilmer in Tombstone thing. It’s an awesome performance but probably too slight to crack a stacked best supporting actor field. So, instead, let’s look to best supporting actress and Da’Vine Joy Randolph. Was there a better breakout this year than Randolph, a Broadway star and frequent television actress who absolutely crushes her scenes in Dolemite Is My Name? There was not. Which positions Randolph for an upset nod, especially if Dolemite has support in other categories (hold that thought). The best supporting actress race has a couple of sure things in Laura Dern for Marriage Story and Jennifer Lopez for Hustlers. After that, it’s a little bit like Wild West. Kathy Bates for Richard Jewell, which flopped and wound up mired in a media scandal? Margot Robbie for Bombshell, which is almost as divisive as Richard Jewell, when she’s also got a lot of support for her Once Upon a Time in Hollywood performance? Florence Pugh, who rules, for Little Women, which has thus far performed far softer than it should have among awards voters? Why can’t Randolph make a play here when it’s so wide open?

As for the other categories: best original screenplay is packed tight, but it’s entirely possible Alexander and Karaszewski could land there for the Dolemite script — the precedent being that Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber were nominated for their similar underdog script for The Disaster Artist; earlier this year, costume designer Ruth Carter won her first Oscar for Black Panther and she should be back again for her Dolemite work.

And then there’s best picture: Dolemite Is My Name has appeared on precious few lists for the ultimate prize, but the Academy has a long history of gravitating toward movies about making movies. Is it so hard to believe Dolemite could land among the nine or 10 nominees? Maybe! But if it happens, you heard it here first.

FEARLESS FORECAST: Three nominations (Best Actor for Murphy, Best Supporting Actress for Randolph, Best Costume Design), zero wins.

Christopher Rosen is a writer and editor who lives in Maplewood, New Jersey and still thinks Lady Bird should have won best picture. Follow him on Twitter: @chrisjrosen

Stream Dolemite Is My Name on Netflix