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The Movie Common Has 'Seen A Million Times'

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The weekends on All Things Considered series Movies I've Seen A Million Times features filmmakers, actors, writers and directors talking about the movies that they never get tired of watching.

The movie that rapper-actor Common, whose credits include Brown Sugar, American Gangster, Just Wright and LUV — currently playing in theaters — could watch a million times is John Landis' Coming to America.

Rapper-actor Common
Richard Drew / AP


Interview Highlights

On why he loves Coming to America

"First of all, it was just so funny, and Eddie Murphy was already one of my favorite actors because he just was so funny, and his movies were always exciting and had a cool story to them. When I see him, it's like he had a certain natural thing about him that just was great, and you don't even, like, try to pay attention to ... well, does his accent, does it really sound African or not, you were just in it from the beginning."

On how Eddie Murphy influenced him

"... His acting influenced me in a way that made me want to be a star; like it made me at some point be something in my life and want to do something great."

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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