The Nutty Professor was released on 28 June 1996.
Russell Simmons suggested to producer Brian Grazer that they should do a remake of the Jerry Lewis 1963 film with a black star, and Eddie Murphy was cast, who worked with Barry Blaustein, Steve Oedekerk, and David Sheffield on the screenplay (Murphy did not describe the film as a remake, instead, saying, "we stripped down the story to its bare bones and built it up to this whole different thing"). Jerry Lewis was brought on as executive producer, and later regretted his involvement, saying, "What I did was perfect the first time around and all you're going to do is diminish that perfection by letting someone else do it."
The Nutty Professor was a big box office success and Rick Baker received an Academy Award for his makeup creations.
