Eddie Murphy as Winston Zeddemore

Most Ghostheads know that the character of Winston Zeddemore was originally to appear much earlier in Ghostbusters and was specifically written for Eddie Murphy.  However, Murphy turned down the role in order to do Beverly Hills Cop and the rest, as they say, is history.

Well, artist Todd Spence fired up the what-if section of his brain and created this great acrylic on canvas rendering of what totally would have been a publicity shot of a Murphy/Winston.

I'm personally thankful that Murphy dropped out and we got Ernie Hudson.  I think the Ghostbusters benefited from the "every-man" perspective that Hudson brought to the role.  It really grounded the rest of the team's quirky characterizations and no doubt Murphy would've been pretty over the top.

What do you guys think?  Do you think Eddie Murphy as Winston would've helped or hurt the movie?  Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Source: The Autumn Society