Eddie Murphy is recalling a memorable conversation he once had with the late Marlon Brando.
In excerpts from a newly published chat for the New York Times podcast The Interview, Murphy said he was once at Brando’s home following his first-ever film role, in 1982’s 48 Hrs., when the actor told him he wasn’t a fan of Clint Eastwood.
“This is how long ago it was: He was going, ‘I can’t stand that kid with the gun.’ I was like, ‘What kid with the gun?’ He said, ‘He’s on the poster!’ ” recalled Murphy, 63.
“I was like, ‘Clint Eastwood?’ ‘Yeah, that guy!’ He was calling Clint Eastwood ‘that kid,’ ” added the Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F star.
Notably, Brando — who died at age 80 in 2004 — was only six years older than Eastwood, who recently celebrated his 94th birthday in May.
A rep for Eastwood did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Meeting up with Brando at his home was the second time the two hung out, according to Murphy. The first time, he said, was at a rooftop restaurant at the L’Ermitage luxury hotel in Los Angeles.
And the impact of those moments isn’t lost on Murphy today. “I was having these famous people that I grew up watching on television wanting to have a meal with me,” he recalled. “After 48 Hrs., Marlon Brando calls my agent and wants to meet me.”
“Now I look back and go, ‘Wow, that’s crazy. The greatest actor of all time wants to have dinner with you!’ ” Murphy continued on the podcast. “But back then I just thought, ‘Well, that’s the way it is. You make a movie, and Marlon Brando calls.’ ”
The Coming to America actor added that during their second hangout, he “was just going on and on” about Brando’s 1972 epic The Godfather.
But Brando took the praise in stride. “He was like, ‘Eh, The Godfather.’ Not just The Godfather — acting,” Murphy said. “He was like, ‘Acting is bulls—, and everybody can act.’ ”
The two-time Oscar winner, who has been a subject of controversy over the years, will soon be portrayed on-screen by Billy Zane.
On his Instagram grid last month, the Titanic actor posted production stills and behind-the-scenes glimpses of Waltzing with Brando. In the caption, he explained that the biopic is “the true story of Marlon as the ‘Godfather’ of the environmental movement, spearheading sustainable, zero carbon architecture and design upon his private Island of Tetiaroa back in 1970!”
Zane, 58, plays the On the Waterfront star in the film adaptation of Bernard Judge’s 2011 book of the same name from director and co-writer Bill Fishman. It was up for acquisition at this year’s recent Cannes Film Festival.
Deadline reported that Waltzing with Brando is a reimagining of moments from The Godfather and Last Tango In Paris. The movie costars Tia Carrere, Richard Dreyfuss, Jon Heder, Alaina Huffman, Rob Corddry and others.