The 53-year-old actor will star in the 'Driving Miss Daisy' director's drama, reported E! online.
The film, to which Samuel L Jackson was previously attached, centres around a man (Murphy) hired by a dying father to look after his daughter and girlfriend.
"It's a great screenplay," producer Mark Canton said.
"It's a small story - a true story - of a family and a guy who comes into their lives. You have to come up with either really great big franchise driven movies or little character driven movies. Those are the two businesses to be in. I'm in both. You don't like to be caught in the middle."