Axel Foley is back. 30 years after Beverly Hills Cop III, Eddie Murphy once again takes on the role of the cult detective and celebrates with Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. since the July 3, 2024 his return on Netflix. At his side are his beloved comrades from the very beginning: John Ashton and Judge Reinhold as John Taggart and Billy Rosewood.
In the Moviepilot interview, Reinhold and Ashton show genuine enthusiasm for their series, even though the success of Beverly Hills Cop 1984 was anything but a foregone conclusion. They love Eddie Murphy and their chemistry together. And finally, they take a look into the future of the action series.
Moviepilot: What were your favorite scenes in the old Beverly Hills Cop movies?
Judge Reinhold: The scene where all three of us are in the car together. It was the first scene we shot together. It was magical to feel that chemistry again. We just picked up where we left off. I hadn’t seen Eddie in ten years. So he gets in the car and says, “Well, at least we still look like our characters.” [Lacht].
United International Pictures GmbH
Judge Reinhold, Eddie Murphy and John Ashton in the first Beverly Hills Cop
John Ashton: We shot this scene in almost the same place as the first film. It was almost eerie. One of the crew members said to me: “I saw the first film when I was eight. The three of you together in the car again gives me goosebumps.” Mark Molloy sat in the footwell in front of the back seats during the scene because he really wanted to be there.
Did you always know that Beverly Hills Cop 1 would be a big hit?
Ashton: Judge and I met at the audition, but the first scene we did as a threesome was the strip club scene. We hit it off right away. But I don’t worry about the future of movies. I don’t worry about whether a movie will be successful or win Oscars. I just want to do good work and have fun.
Reinhold: We had great confidence in Marty Brest, who had made the film The Pensioners Gang in 1979. We simply knew that he had talent. But [Beverly Hills Cop 1] jumps a lot between hard action scenes and humor. I wasn’t sure if that would work. At that time [gab es so etwas nicht]. If we didn’t invent the action comedy, we at least helped define it. It felt provocative and that was exciting.
Watch the latest trailer for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. here:
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F – Trailer (German) HD
Ashton: Marty Brest really let us explore the characters and gave us the freedom to create the characters. In Part 1, there’s a scene where we awkwardly climb over a wall. We were only fifteen feet from the end of the wall and I said to him, “Why don’t we walk around the outside?” And he just said, “Because it’s not funny!” In the final film, you don’t see how far the wall goes. It would have been a good gag to reveal that.
Will you be in Beverly Hills Cop 5 if it comes?
Ashton: I’m waiting for the call.
Reinhold: I’m waiting for the script. He doesn’t care about anything. [Lacht]The chemistry is still there, we still have plenty of juice.
Ashton: We still have a lot to say.
Reinhold: And a lot to do. It doesn’t feel like the other parts were that long ago. And the reason is our privilege to work on a series of films that will be shown again and again. We’re not digging up something that people haven’t seen for 40 years. We’re ready.
Ashton: Before we started shooting, I had a meeting with [Regisseur] Mark Molloy. The first thing he said to me was, “I want to bring the series back to the ’80s.” And I was like, “Great. I love the idea.”
Reinhold: However, we didn’t know what the 80s were when we started the film series [lacht].
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F has been streaming since July 3, 2024 on Netflix.