Keegan-Michael Key, one half of Comedy Central’s sketch show Key and Peele, has joined Eddie Murphy in the cast of Netflix’s blaxploitation biopic Dolemite Is My Name! Based on a true story, the movie stars Murphy as Rudy Ray Moore, the comedian and musician who adopted the garish persona Dolemite and appeared as this character in the 1975 movie Dolemite, as well as several other movies that followed.
Key is no stranger to Netflix, as he’s currently starring in the Netflix comedy-drama series Friends From College. Murphy, meanwhile, has had a quiet few years recently, but Dolemite Is My Name! seems like the perfect fit for his comedic talents. The character of Dolemite began as one of Moore’s alter egos on his notoriously edgy comedy rap albums, and Moore used the profits from those albums to finance a low-budget movie starring the character. In the movie, Dolemite is a pimp and nightclub owner who gets set up and sent to jail for 20 years, but later takes his revenge with the help of his band of kung fu prostitutes.
THR reports that Key will play Jerry Jones, the screenwriter behind Dolemite who also played an FBI agent in the movie. Jones went on to write the next Dolemite movie, The Human Tornado, and also appeared in Moore’s 1979 movie Disco Godfather. Key joins a cast that also includes Wesley Snipes, Mike Epps, Craig Robinson, and Tituss Burgess.
Source: Screenrant
