Only three actors have ever portrayed Inspector Clouseau, the bumbling, obliviously stupid French detective of the Pink Panther films. (The number is four if you count a Roger Moore cameo in 1983’s Curse of the Pink Panther.) There’s a reason for that: The role is so closely associated with the first person to play him, Peter Sellers, that only a true genius could ever dare fill those shambolic shoes. Alan Arkin gave it a try in the late ‘60s. Steve Martin did the same in the aughts. Now another legend may join them.
As per Deadline, MGM, now owned by Amazon, is looking to reignite the Pink Panther IP, and they may have found their man: Eddie Murphy. Multiple sources claim the beloved comic performer is “circling” the role. No details are known at this time, but it could become the next big role for the performer, who has returned to entertainment after taking a good, long hiatus to raise some kids and has been doing a pretty great job of it.
The Pink Panther series began in 1963 as a farcical, classy heist movie in which Sellers’ Closeau was second-billed to David Niven’s jewel thief. The character proved so popular that he got his own break-out movie, 1964’s Pink Panther-less A Shot in the Dark. (At the same time, the titular animated character, seen in the delightful opening credits, scored his own line of theatrical cartoon shorts.)
Sellers returned to Clouseau in the mid-‘70s, who he played up until his death in 1980. He even embodied him after passing away; the truly bizarre Trail of the Pink Panther continued his story using scrapped footage from 1976’s The Pink Panther Strikes Again. No less than Roberto Benigni played his illegitimate Italian son in 1993’s Son of the Pink Panther, which brought an end to the franchise’s original run.
(Via Deadline)