Although Beverly Hills Cop is perhaps Eddie Murphy’s most acclaimed franchise, the actor does not particularly cherish the memories he has of the beloved action film series.
The actor is finally prepared to return to the Beverly Hills Cop film series after more than two decades. It is difficult to try to capture the full impact of this film series on Murphy’s career. Things really got going when the actor-comedian joined the cast of the television show, Saturday Night Live in 1980.
As a regular cast member for the majority of his time on the show, he quickly rose to the top of the cast and even won his first Primetime Emmy Award for hosting Saturday Night Live. Since then, there was no looking back. The 1980s film, Beverly Hills Cop was one of these pioneering films in his career.
He portrayed Axel Foley in the action film, a streetwise Detroit police officer, who decides to visit California and collaborate with their police force in order to solve the murder of his best friend.
But the buddy cop franchise did not always experience an easy ride.
Why Eddie Murphy Thinks This Beverly Hills Cop Film Was ‘Garbage’
The 1980s film, Beverly Hills Cop was a smash hit and managed to hold the top spot in the US charts, making it the highest-grossing US film released in 1984. In the near future, Eddie Murphy will reprise his role as Axel Foley in the upcoming Netflix film, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley.
However, this buddy cop franchise did not always have a smooth ride. The startlingly successful first film prompted a second, which ultimately gave rise to the tragic Beverly Hills Cop III.
It is a well-known fact that even Murphy was not thrilled about the prospect of doing a third movie. Ultimately, the film was a colossal failure and was widely regarded as one of the actor’s worst works.
The lack of comedic value and engagement in the movie is acknowledged even by the actor.
He mentioned his strong feelings toward the third Beverly Hills Cop movie in an interview with Playboy when talking about the upcoming Beverly Hills Cop 4.
“They’ve got to get that script right. That movie has to be right. The third Beverly Hills Cop was garbage. Those movies, when I travel overseas, people say, [in a foreign accent] ‘Hey, Beverly Hills Cop! Axel Foley’ They call me that sh*t. All the movies I’ve done, and they call me that. If we do that movie, it has to be right. Not just thrown together to get a big check. I don’t need any more of those.”
Eddie Murphy Suffered Injuries During the Filming of Beverly Hills Cop 4
Eddie Murphy is finally prepared to return to the Beverly Hills Cop film series after a long wait.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley started filming last year, and Murphy explained why it took so long to get him back in the part. In an interview with Collider, he claimed that Jerry Bruckheimer‘s work on the script was what made the movie successful:
“Jerry Bruckheimer, the original producer. When he got involved, and he started developing the script, and he knew what Beverly Hills Cop was supposed to be… that’s when it all started to come together. Because we tried for years and years, maybe 10, 12 years, and I must have read five or six different scripts, and it was never right. The studio was like, ‘Let’s go. Here it is.’ It was like, ‘It’s just not it.’”
As the actor, 62, is now much older than he was in the first movie, Murphy further claimed he will not be performing as many stunts this time. His health suffered as a result of the stunts he pulled off:
“I’m not 21. It was a long time ago, and it’s a really physical movie. And then I had to do some physical stuff. I know Tom Cruise likes to do physical stuff, but… I like to be on the couch. I don’t like to be jumping over, and shooting, and running, and I had to do some jumping and shooting and running, and as a result, had a knee brace at the end of the movie. I had a knee brace, and my back is messed up, and all that. But the movie is going to be special.”
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley will air on Netflix, but neither the release date nor the storyline has been made public. With a script by Will Beall, Mark Malloy will be in charge of directing.
In addition to Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, Paul Reiser, and John Ashton are all reprising their roles from earlier Beverly Hills Cop movies. The movie also features Kevin Bacon and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Meanwhile, last released three Beverly Hills Cop films are currently streaming on Paramount Plus.
