While promoting his new movie “Mr Church” (which opens in the USA today), Eddie Murphy, speaking with the AP, revealed that previously announced new projects, “Triplets” and “Beverly Hills Cop 4” are not happening!
First, the “Triplets” project; the first mention of it came in 2012, sold as sequel to “Twins,” the 1988 comedy directed by Ivan Reitman about unlikely twins (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito) who were separated at birth. “Triplets” was to add Eddie Murphy as a third, long-lost brother, who was also separated at birth, as ridiculous as that might sound – especially considering the age difference between Murphy and the other 2 actors.
The last time we wrote anything about the project was in 2013. At the time, there was no script, but the trio shared that they didn’t want to rush it because it had to be good enough, and not just “fluff.”
Ivan Reitman was said to have shown interest in returning to direct “Triplets,” and Universal was reportedly excited about it, as a writer was being sought.
So we can maybe officially call “Triplets” dead, given what Eddie says in his interview with the AP this week.
And second, a 4th “Beverly Hills Cop” movie has been at various stages of development for several years; at one time, 3 years ago, CBS ordered a TV pilot based on the movie, and then later passed on a full series. So the TV adaptation, which was to star Brandon T. Jackson as Axel Foley’s (Eddie Murphy’s) son, never made it to air.
Initially, it appeared that the series was a lock for a pick-up, given the brand, and who was involved (notably Shawn Ryan and Eddie Murphy), as well as the fact that there was reportedly some serious competition from all 4 major networks for the series, with CBS emerging the winner of what was to be a new “Beverly Hills Cop” series.
And it is in part due to that interest in the project from all 4 major networks, that it was also reported that the series wasn’t entirely dead, and there was the possibility that it could end up on another network. That didn’t happen of course.
But soon afterward, Ryan, who was to serve as showrunner if CBS picked it up the series, posted the following to Twitter: “Good news for fans of franchise is that the pilot tested so well, it has caused Paramount to put another #BHC movie into development.”
Translation: The TV series was shelved, but the pilot tested very well that Paramount believed that another “Beverly Hills Cop” movie would be a good idea, and had apparently begun development on one.
What I found interesting about this revelation was that, if the pilot tested as well as Ryan says it did, why did CBS pass on it, and why did no other network want it?
I’d love to see the pilot episode, but I doubt that’ll ever happen.
You might remember that Eddie Murphy had pretty much buried the idea of a 4th movie, when he told Rolling Stone magazine in an interview in 2012 that “none of the movie scripts were right; it was trying to force the premise. If you have to force something, you shouldn’t be doing it. It was always a rehash of the old thing. It was always wrong.”
In that same conversation, Eddie did add that he was more interested in adapting the movie to TV, as a drama series than making a 4th movie.
But a 4th movie is what he would eventually sign up for, as just 3 months ago, it was reported that Paramount had hired co-directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah to direct “Beverly Hills Cop 4.”
The Brussels-based filmmakers of Moroccan descent previously directed a crime drama we covered on this blog last year titled “Black.” It made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall, and opened in France on March 16, 2016, although no USA pick up I’m aware of at this time.
For “Beverly Hills Cop 4” the filmmakers, working with the studio, as well as producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Eddie Murphy (who saw and loved “Black,” along with Bruckheimer and Paramount execs), planned to “reframe” the franchise with “youthful energy,” as the report said in June.
A script was being worked on by writers Josh Appelbaum & Andre Nemec.
Although no ETA on the project was given by the studio.
With Murphy now saying that “Beverly Hills Cop 4” is not happening, just 3 months after an announcement that seemed fairly assured that it was, something obviously happened in that very short period of time.
And when the interviewer asks Murphy what he’s working on, if none of these projects are in the works, he replied that he’s in “complete chill mode” and doesn’t seem in any rush to take on any new work. I do wonder why he chose “Mr. Church.” He could’ve probably done almost anything else he wanted, but he went with what looks like a “Driving Miss Daisy” sequel (it’s even directed by the same filmmaker). Clearly money isn’t a problem for him, and he seems quite comfortable with where he is at the moment, which is certainly nice. I would like to see him maybe get back to stand-up comedy; even if just a one-time special. It’s been a while. Also, taking a role that’s unlike anything he’s done before, would be intriguing. Maybe teaming up with some young, up-and-coming filmmaker with vision, and creating something that surprises audiences.
But, unless we hear something else, it appears “Triplets” and “Beverly Hills Cop 4” are both dead – according to Eddie Murphy.
Watch the interview with the AP below:
Source: Shadow & Act
