Fifteen years after Brittany Murphy‘s tragic death, Across the Hall director Alex Merkin reminisced about their days on the set of what would be the star’s final film.
Merkin recently discovered never-before-seen footage of Murphy filming Across the Hall, her last big screen project before she died at age 32, and shared the behind-the-scenes video exclusively with Us Weekly.
In the clip, Murphy can be seen laughing and singing between takes. At one point, she belted Big Bill Broonzy’s “Sun Gonna Shine In My Back Door Someday” before cameras resumed rolling. According to Merkin, she would frequently charm the movie’s crew with her “exceptional singing voice.”
“She would be trying to lighten up the crew, brightening up the space around her,” Merkin exclusively recalled in Us’ latest cover story. “She had a completely infectious laugh. She had a timeless, classic quality; she was a true movie star. And that talent was lost.”
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He continued, “She was one of those stars with a bright future that never got fulfilled. She was a bright, talented, one-of-a-kind actress who we lost way too soon.”
Merkin fondly recalled that “her energy was bright and interesting and undeniable.”
“Sometimes in the industry, you meet big, successful stars and understand immediately what makes people gravitate toward them,” Merkin said. “Brittany had that quality.”
Murphy died in December 2009 following complications from pneumonia, anemia and multiple drug intoxication. Her death was ruled as “accidental.” Murphy had been married to screenwriter Simon Monjack at the time of her passing. He died of similar circumstances five months later at age 40.
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Merkin’s favorite memory will always be how her voice filled the set.
“She had a beautiful voice and she was always singing right before the takes. Just serenading the set. I can still hear her voice,” the director told Us.
“[She] even tried to pitch me a whole scene in a karaoke bar at one point, just to get her singing in the movie,” Merkin said. “She loved [singing]. When she was in good spirits, she would try to lighten up the crew. We were in a creepy old hotel set on a Universal sound stage that was actually called the Phantom Stage because it had the old opera house from ‘Phantom of the Opera’ along the outside. It was a cool but a creepy kind of space. And she would be doing her thing brightening up the space around her.”
Merkin remembered her belting out classics like “Making Whoopee” and “Put On a Happy Face.”
And he said her legacy is similar to other screen legends of their time: “I think she was a true movie star. When you think of a James Dean or Marilyn Monroe, you think of just incredibly bright futures that never got fulfilled.”
Murphy was best known for her roles in the likes of Just Married, Uptown Girls and Clueless. Many of her former costars have since been candid about their grief and how impressive she was as a performer. In March 2023, Breckin Meyer — who played Murphy’s Clueless love interest — remembered that she was so “talented.”
“Brittany could sing like nobody’s business, and I look at things like [how] they’re doing the movie Wicked now,” Meyer, now 50, said at ‘90s Con in March 2023. “I hear about that, [and I know] Brittany would be killing this stuff right now. You know, [projects like] West Side Story, all that stuff. The [tough part] is, like, we all don’t get to see the incredible work she was gonna do, which sucks.”
For more on Murphy, watch the exclusive video above and pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly — on newsstands now.
