Eddie Murphy, Tracee Ellis Ross and Reginald Hudlin on Obsessive Holiday Decor and a ‘Candy Cane Lane’ Franchise

In Candy Cane Lane, Eddie Murphy plays Chris Carver, a man determined to win the Christmas home decorating competition on his block. He gets mixed up with a mischievous elf who gives him a gigantic 12 Days of Christmas tree that should seal the win. But things get hectic when the song’s famous characters come to life and escape into town.

Chris and his family must now hustle to get all the eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming and all the other characters back, or Chris will spend the rest of his life as a miniature figurine. That got us thinking: how far does the film’s real-life cast take their holiday decorating? So we asked, and things got interesting.

“I’m not crazy like this family, but I go pretty, pretty overboard and always have. Christmas is a big deal around the house,” Murphy revealed when EBONY sat down with him and co-star Tracee Ellis Ross, who plays his on-screen wife Carol. “I think my house is more than that guy’s house.” When Ross pointed out whether Murphy would ever compete against his neighbors, he replied right on cue, “In my neighborhood, you can’t see the other people’s houses,” but it would be against Rod Stewart.

That easy-going energy between the two comedic heavyweights resonates throughout the new Christmas comedy, something Hudlin tapped into. “It’s mainly getting out of the way,” he shared. “They are incredibly tasteful and have great instincts…If you need to give a note, fine, but if not, you go, ‘Oh, I’m a genius because I heard these two.’”

Murphy gushed over working with Ross. “We had a cool working relationship,” he said. “She’s easy to work with and talk to each other. And we both improvise a lot. So we had really good chemistry.”

Showcasing a joyful holiday film featuring happy, well-adjusted Black families was a priority for the cast and director. “Trying to prove the case of our humanity, it’s always a good idea,” Hudlin declared. “These are conversations I’ve had with my wife. At the time that we were shooting the movie, my daughter was applying to go to college; my son used to be bad at math. This is my family. I related 100 percent to everything that was going on.”

Murphy agreed. “You don’t see a lot, a lot of movies like that with us in it. Especially at this level, with the production and the visual effects, it was really important.”

“That’s what Boomerang was,” added Hudlin, who last partnered with Murphy on the 1992 comedy.

This may not be the last see of the Carver family or a Murphy-Ross paring. “Eddie and I just came up with a movie earlier… well, Eddie came up with it, but we expanded on it,” Ross teased. “We’d like to just keep doing them.” And not just Christmas films.

“She said Kwanzaa. New Year’s. Halloween,” Murphy offered.

“Juneteenth, Thanksgiving,” Ross quipped.

“Arbor Day,” Hudlin threw in.

Whatever the film’s subject matter, it’s bound to be a hilarious trip with this trio.

Candy Cane Lane now playing on Prime Video.

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