For Eddie Murphy, returning to his iconic Beverly Hills Cop role four decades after the original 1984 movie wasn’t as easy physically.
The actor, 63, opened up about reprising his character, Detroit detective Axel Foley, in the upcoming Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, during an appearance on the Today show Tuesday.
“It felt like old man,” Murphy quipped to Al Roker. “I did Beverly Hills Cop when I was 21, and I’m 63 now.”
He continued, “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 and he’s like, ‘Can you come down with more urgency? Faster?’ And I was like, ‘No!’”
In the fourth installment, which debuts on Netflix July 3, Murphy returns to Beverly Hills after his daughter’s life is threatened, and teams up with new partner Detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and old friends John Taggart (John Ashton) and Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) to uncover a conspiracy.
“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,’” The Nutty Professor actor joked.
Murphy first debuted 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 Mikey Tandino (James Russo). He returned for sequels in 1987 and 1994.
“Beverly Hills Cop was my first movie that I’m the lead in. If I travel overseas they call me Axel Foley,” he said. “Axel is an everyman. He’s not a superhero or a super-cop, he’s the everyman that rises to the occasion. I think that’s why people like it. And more than anything, he’s funny.”