The late, great James Earl Jones passed away on September 9, 2024, at the age of 93, leaving behind a massive artistic legacy, not to mention shelves and shelves full of acting awards. Jones began acting professionally in the late 1950s, appearing on stage in a production of “Sunrise at Campobello,” moving to film in 1964 with Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” Jones continued to act on stage, on TV, and in movies all the way through 2021, when he made his final film appearance in Craig Brewer’s “Coming 2 America.”
A sequel to John Landis’ 1988 comedy “Coming to America,” “Coming 2 America” returned to the fictional country of Zamunda, which was overseen by the wealthy and intense King Jaffe Joffer (Jones). The comedy was derived from Zamunda’s prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) going to New York City to look for a potential bride; the women in Zamunda, he finds, are too dazzled by his fame, and Akeem would rather find a wife who appreciates him for his character. In the sequel, Akeem returns to America to meet a son he never knew he fathered.
In the early scenes of “Coming 2 America,” King Jaffe announces that he is dying and that he must have a funeral. In a comedic twist, the King insists on having the funeral before he dies, as he wants to ensure it will be a massive royal blowout. The King appears in a coffin and laughs at the dancing and pageantry of his own memorial. Sadly, he actually dies during the funeral. It was the last film Jones ever shot.
On the ReelBlend podcast back in 2021, Brewer talked about shooting “Coming 2 America,” and how he had to keep his actors mostly separate thanks to pandemic restrictions. As such, Jones, already in his 90s, needed to film his scenes mostly alone; he and Murphy never directly interacted. Brewer, however, was granted a rare opportunity through the restrictions. He got to act opposite one of the greats.
James Earl Jones’ final performance
Most of “Coming 2 America” was filmed in Atlanta, Georgia, but James Earl Jones lived in New York City, forcing Craig Brewer to shoot his scenes separately. Jones, at age 90, couldn’t travel easily, especially with COVID-19 still going around. Additionally, Jones had Type-2 diabetes, which also prevented easy travel. Brewer instead went to New York and filmed all of Jones’ scenes separately. Sadly, Eddie Murphy and his co-star Arsenio Hall weren’t able to perform with the legendary actor, but Craig Brewer, in reading their lines, got to do a little acting of his own. He explained:
“James Earl Jones and Eddie and Arsenio, they were never in the same room. I had to go to New York and film with James Earl Jones. I was Eddie and Arsenio all day. I acted all day with James Earl Jones.”
Brewer admitted to being deeply moved to work with Jones. Prior to the film, Jones hadn’t worked for several years. His final Broadway appearance came back in 2016, acting in a play called “The Gin Game.” On TV, he appeared in two episodes of “Agent X” in 2015, an episode of “The Big Bang Theory,” as well as the TV movie “The Reading Room” back in 2005. Throughout all of these, Jones continued to do a lot of voice work, reprising his noted roles of Mufasa and Darth Vader from “The Lion King” and “Star Wars” respectively. That Jones returned for “Coming 2” wasn’t lost on Brewer. He was verklempt at Jones’ performance, saying:
“The funeral, too. I get emotional every time I watch the funeral sequence because on the day, I was there with James Earl Jones as he was talking to Eddie. … And I couldn’t help it. I mean, I was raised on ‘Star Wars’ and ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Claudine.’ And so I remember him saying his lines to me, you know? He’s not saying it to Eddie. And I couldn’t call cut because my lip was quivering, and I had a lump in my throat.”
If Jones noticed Brewer’s quivering lips, he didn’t let on. The man was a professional to the end.
