The 1994 movie Eddie Murphy dismisses a “bad decision”
Having experienced the ignominy of winning five Golden Raspberry Awards from 14 nominations – including the unwanted distinction of being dubbed ‘Worst Actor of the Century’ – Eddie Murphy has plenty of experience starring in movies that leave both critics and audiences feeling equally cold.
However, one of the projects he holds active disdain for was a sizeable hit at the box office and forms part of a career-defining franchise that’s set to return to screens next year. The Beverly Hills Cop series may have been lying dormant for almost 30 years at this point until Murphy returns as Axel Foley in the fourth instalment, but it hasn’t been from a lack of trying.
As well as many failed attempts to get the fourth movie off the ground, a TV pilot was shot that failed to be ordered to a series, of which he wanted no part after admitting to The Hollywood Reporter that “I’m not going to do Beverly Hills Cop on TV”. One of the major reasons why the property stagnated was Murphy’s reluctance to reprise the role just for the sake of an easy payday, something he learned the hard way on Beverly Hills Cop III.
Despite being directed by John Landis – who’d previously steered Murphy to great success with Trading Places and Coming to America – the threequel was left found sorely wanting compared to both the classic original and solid-if-unspectacular sequel. During an interview with Playboy, the leading man was frank when he stated in no uncertain terms that “the third Beverly Hills Cop was garbage”.
Money should never be the motivating factor behind any actor signing onto a project, which Murphy acknowledged with the gift of hindsight:
“Every bad decision I’ve made has been based on money. I grew up in the projects and you don’t turn down money there. You take it, because you never know when it’s all going to end”.
Murphy’s honesty about the situation is refreshing precisely because so few major stars ever admit to sleepwalking into sequels for financial reasons. By the early 1990s, though, Hollywood had fully realised the commercial value of recognisable brands, and Beverly Hills Cop III felt less like a continuation of Axel Foley’s story and more like a studio obligation dressed up as a blockbuster. The looseness and unpredictability that made the original such a lightning-in-a-bottle success had largely been ironed out by formula.
As a result, he confirmed that he made Beverly Hills Cop III only “because they offered me $15 million”.
In the wake of a critical drubbing, even Murphy was self-aware enough to know “that $15 million was worth having Roger Ebert’s thumb up my ass”. Having already conspired to strike comedic gold twice over in their previous experience working together, Landis was forced to concede that Beverly Hills Cop III didn’t turn out quite the way he wanted.
Calling it “a very strange experience” in an interview with Collider, he knew “the script wasn’t any good” but operated under the assumption that his familiarity with Murphy and the star’s natural charisma would be enough, or so he thought: “But then I discovered on the first day when I started giving Eddie some shtick, he said, ‘You know, John… Axel Foley is an adult now. He’s not a wiseass anymore.'”
Landis praised Murphy by labelling him “very professional, but he just wasn’t funny”. Clearly, the actor’s heart wasn’t in Beverly Hills Cop III from the beginning for any other reason than a major windfall, something 2024’s legacy sequel will be seeking to remedy.
