Eddie Murphy said it was not as easy reprising his role in the fourth installment of Beverly Hills Cop, three decades after the last film premiered.
The US actor first debuted as Detroit detective Axel Foley in 1984’s Beverly Hills Cop, which saw him go rogue and travel to California to solve the murder of his childhood friend – before returning in the 1987 and 1994 sequels.
“It felt like old man,” Murphy quipped in an interview on the Today show in the US.
TODAY’s Al Roker sat down with Eddie Murphy to speak about his return as Detective Axel Foley in the fourth installment of the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise, the experience of acting with his real-life daughter in the film and more! pic.twitter.com/v5Se793PfH
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 18, 2024
“I did Beverly Hills Cop when I was 21, and I’m 63 now.
“Now, I would rather not do any stunts. We were shooting something and the director said ‘I want you to come out of this place and run down those steps’.
“After we shot he was like ‘Can you come down with more urgency and faster’ and I was like ‘No’.
“I was like ‘I’m not doing anything action, don’t call me unless you offer me the same type of shit you would offer Morgan Freeman’,” Murphy joked.
In the fourth installment titled Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, which debuts on Netflix on July 3, Murphy returns to California after his daughter – played by Taylour Paige – is threatened.
The film sees actors John Ashton and Edward “Judge” Reinhold reprise their roles as John Taggart and Billy Rosewood to help Murphy’s character uncover a potential conspiracy involving new character Captain Grant played by Kevin Bacon.
Murphy told Today presenter Al Roker the only way the film could happen was if “all of us were in it”.
The film also stars Murphy’s real-life daughter Bria Murphy, who arrests him in the film.