Divorce helped my acting, says Eddie Murphy

Eddie Murphy says a difficult divorce helped his performance in the upcoming film Dreamgirls.

“It was real emotional,” Murphy said on the Oprah Winfrey Show, where he appeared with Jamie Foxx, Beyonce and other cast members on the programme that aired today.

“So it was really good because I had all that going on and that’s going on under your skin; you get on the set and when you’re acting … (it took) me to a different place emotionally.”

Murphy’s divorce from his wife, Nicole, came up as he deflected Foxx’s compliment about how he could instantly transform himself into the character of James “Thunder” Early, then revert to “this quiet, docile thing” when the cameras stopped rolling.

“I don’t want to make it seem like I was, you know, all Joe Actor,” Murphy said. “I was going through a big divorce, so between shots I was like: ‘Damn’.”

Foxx joked that his own character, a manager of a female singing group, The Dreamettes, appeared to be ruthless – to everyone but real music executives.

“Everybody thinks Curtis is mean, but all the executives from the studio and the music places called me and said: ‘Hey, I love the character’.”