One of this week’s biggest new streaming debuts (and perhaps one of the week's worst-reviewed releases) features two superstar SNL vets sharing the screen together, but Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson aren’t necessarily the most amorous coupling in the 2025 movie. (Though I’m sure there’s someone out there who thinks differently.) That distinction goes to Davidson and his somewhat illogical on-screen love interest, the heist-planning con artist portrayed by Keke Palmer, whose character Zoe seduces Davidson’s Travis in the opening sequence.
Despite The Pickup earning an R rating, Travis and Zoe don’t deliver any wildly graphic sex scenes, and viewers really don’t see much physical intimacy at all. But that doesn’t mean the actors got to stay in their clothes, with Palmer revealing to EW that the co-stars did indeed film in the nude extremely early in the production. The way she talks about it makes it sound like it was a total breeze, thanks in part to them getting along so well. As she put it:
I honestly think he and I have chemistry. Look, I don't know anybody that Pete don't have chemistry with. I mean, he's pretty well-liked in the female world.
To that end, Pete Davidson's dating life has been tabloid fodder for quite a few years now, as has the rumored size of his manhood. For a while, it seemed like he couldn't have a conversation with a female without someone making the intuitive leap to assume that they were dating, which certainly plays into Palmer's chemistry assessment. (He's now having his first kid with Elsie Hewitt, though, which may bring an end to his run of headline-making relationships.)
The actress and musician confirmed that she and Pete Davidson filmed their more illicit scenes early on, more or less matching up with when their characters got together in the movie, even though audiences don't actually get to see what went on until later in the movie. Perhaps because those slightly lewd moments went down so soon after they started getting to know each other, their excitement to be working with Eddie Murphy was as present as any more illicit forms of exitement. In her words:
First of all, he's so sweet, so it was comfortable even though we were being all naked and stuff like that. But it was in the first week of a shooting — I think it might've been the second day or so. So we were just kind of like, ‘Hey, this is exciting. Have you met Eddie yet? Have you met Eddie yet?’ And so we were just kind of being excited about that.
Palmer brought up the fact that she and Davidson worked together for a murder-mystery Audible narrative podcast, which is where their chemistry first formulated. And she thinks that the movie's silly and over-the-top tone helped make Zoe and Travis' awkward semi-romance more enjoyable to play up, since it wasn't taken super-seriously.
Clothing or no clothing, The Pickup is a comedy first and foremost, and Palmer says that both she and Davidson felt really lucky to be a part of a movie with Eddie Murphy at this point in their careers, with both having looked up to the comedian when starting down their own careers paths before they were even teenagers. As she put it:
And I think, again, we were both really putting our best foot forward. I think it's a big opportunity for us both. We started out acting and performing as kids. I mean, he started doing standup at 12. I started acting at nine. So I think being at this point in our lives, we're in our thirties, and we're working with Eddie Murphy. For us, it feels like these are the moments that we dreamed of, and so we were just really happy to be there.
I kinda love the idea of Pete Davidson and Keke Palmer hanging out naked and shooting the breeze about how funny Eddie Murphy is, and wondering which of them would look better wearing the comedian's iconic red leather suit from Delirious. (My money's on Keke.)
No word on how hard the intimacy coordinator was laughing during the production of The Pickup, but I can imagine this being one of the more low-stress gigs in that department. Although I wouldnt' be surprised if Eddie Murphy's chemistry with Eva Longoria was palpable enough to cause electrical shortages.
For those who haven't yet watched, check out The Pickup’s trailer below.
The Pickup is currently available to stream with a Prime subscription.
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