There was a three-decade wait for the fourth installment in the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise, “Beverly Hills Cop: Alex F” (streaming now on Netflix).
So will it be another 30 years when the then 93-year-old Eddie Murphy makes the fifth film? Or is something in the works now?
Netflix, which in 2019 bought a one-time license from Paramount with the option for a sequel, remains mum on the possibility.
Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced the first two movies and famously sat out the less-successful 1994 installment, says it’s partly a matter of how “Axel F” fares.
“Another movie obviously is up to Netflix and frankly up to whether people turn this one on and watch,” says Bruckheimer, who anchored the 1984 original and its sequel with the late Don Simpson.
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“Making these movies is never easy, though,” he adds. “It was great that the (original) cast came together for this one, but the script is key.”
Murphy, however, doesn’t hesitate when asked if another Foley adventure is in the works.
“They’re developing ‘Beverly Hills Cop 5’ as we speak,” he tells USA TODAY. “And if the script is right, I’d do it tomorrow.”
By Murphy’s telling, the script for “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” only came together once a key element fell into place: the unresolved relationship between Foley and his estranged lawyer daughter Jane (Taylour Paige).
“That (storyline) was, truth be told, the only reason the movie got made, and why this script is different from the eight others I read over the years,” says Murphy.
“Once we realize Axel has lived a life, and he was married and had a child and is estranged from her, it changed everything. So sure, it’s cops and robbers but it’s really about Axel reconciling with his daughter,” the star says. “Once we added that to it, then, OK, that’s why Axel’s back in Beverly Hills and why he’s driving a truck through walls, to save his daughter and save his relationship with her.”
Could Broadway be next for Eddie Murphy?
While Murphy could well be suiting up again for a fifth romp as Foley, he’s got another possible project in mind. He’s coy at first; when asked if it might be a stand-up show, he elaborates.
“I have flirted with the idea of a live show for years and years, but when I think about it, I realize it would have to be more than just stand-up,” he says. “I’ve done so much other stuff, I’d have to have music in my show, maybe I’d be telling stories about my career and my life, and I’d have some stand-up in the show. So it’d be more like a Broadway show.”
When it’s mentioned that his idea sounds a bit like what Bruce Springsteen (and later Bono) did on Broadway, combining childhood and career stories from an autobiography with performance, Murphy brightens.
“I haven’t seen that, everyone said I must see that,” he says of “Springsteen on Broadway,” which became a 2018 Netflix special.
“I heard it was great,” he says. “So I can see me doing that. But not just doing stand-up and going, ‘What is wrong with Joe Biden?’ or just talking about the problems of the day. I need a bigger canvas to work with.”
