More than thirty years after the original Eddie Murphy’s Prince Akeem was once set to marry prior to his trip to Queens and meeting Lisa McDowell. As it turns out, Snipes actually auditioned for a part in 1988’s Coming to America, a role that went to another actor at the time.
Snipes’ character is one of several new faces in Coming 2 America in addition to returning cast from the original film. In the sequel, Snipes’ Izzy and Murphy’s Akeem do go toe-to-toe a few times. Izzy is upset that Akeem didn’t marry his sister and blames the prince of Zamunda for all the issues of Nexdoria. Izzy makes the attempt to marry off his son to Akeem’s daughter Meeka and, later, makes another attempt at a marital arrangement between his daughter and Akeem’s son Lavelle.
However, the comedy sequel isn’t the first time Snipes came into with the franchise. For Coming to America, the actor confirms he originally auditioned for the role of Darryl Jenks, Lisa’s egocentric, spoiled boyfriend and the heir to his family’s Soul Glo hair care products company, the ads for which are seen throughout the first film. Snipes recounted the story of the audition to Entertainment Weekly in December 2020, stating that he lost the role to Eriq La Salle after three audition callbacks.
Despite not getting the role at the time, Snipes says that “ever since I saw [Coming to America], I’ve wanted to work with Eddie [Murphy].” Flash forward to three decades later and Snipes can now say that he’s a part of the Coming to America legacy. Meanwhile, La Salle was not able to reprise his role as Darryl due to scheduling issues. While his presence would have had to be justified considering he and Lisa broke up decades before, it would have been incredibly interesting to see him in a potential scene with General Izzi, especially now that fans know Snipes auditioned for La Salle’s role.
Interestingly, Coming 2 America isn’t the first time Snipes and Murphy have worked together. Snipes played an actor-turned-director in Murphy’s Dolemite Is My Name and the two actors shared a good amount of hilarious scenes together. Similarly to Coming 2 America, their characters were not particularly friends and there was an arrangement made for them to work together despite not seeing eye-to-eye. While fans may always wonder how Snipes would have played the role of Darryl in Coming to America, someone who is a far cry from General Izzi, Coming 2 America arguably gives Snipes a lot more to work with in of comedy. Ultimately, Snipes seems happy that he landed the role of Izzi in the sequel, a role the actor truly makes his own. So, one could say things worked out pretty well for him in the end.
