Did we just fall for the banana in the tailpipe? Did everyone?
Seems like just hours ago Eddie Murphy was telling Extra that he’s ready to be out of the movie biz and that Beverly Hills Cop 4 wasn’t going to happen. Now, that movie not happening isn’t going to happen, according to MTV. Just today, a Murphy rep told them he’s not going to retire.
“I’ve been in a bunch of different meetings with people, ‘Oh, we have to take Axel this way.” I ain’t seen no script yet [but] I’m not rolling out ‘Beverly Hills Cop 4’ for it to be a continuation of ‘Beverly Hills Cop III,’ which was a crock of shit,” Murphy told the network. “I wanna do a good one!”
If there’s a silver lining here, some of Murphy’s statements suggest that another turn as Axel Foley would allow the guy to do something he’s extraordinarily good at: cussin’.
“I’ll tell you what about profanity. Over the last 20 years or so, because of the studios, everybody figured out there’s a PG-13 audience, you know, and that’s the biggest piece of the pie. And a bunch of artists, myself included, got put in this PG-13 box — artists that aren’t PG-13 artists! Then comedies like ‘Superbad,’ ‘Knocked-Up,’ and ‘Juno’ come out and people go, ‘Oh, this is the brilliant shit.’ And it’s just people acting like real people, talking like real people. And those movies are making all the money now.”
We all know that no one but Eddie Murphy put Eddie Murphy in the PG-13 box, but let’s allow that to slide for the moment. He liked Superbad and let’s assume hated Live Free or Die Hard, so there’s the tiniest chance that another BHC film could be fun.
Because Yog-Sothoth likes me I haven’t yet seen Meet Dave, which means I wasn’t at the press day, which means I haven’t had a chance to ask Murphy about any of this stuff personally. But I hope he keeps changing his mind. Already the Eddie Murphy of June 30 / July 1 2008 is more entertaining than the one we’ve been stuck with for the past ten years.