Kevin Bacon has done many things in his decades-long career, but he was excited to cross working with Eddie Murphy off his Hollywood wish list.
Bacon, 65, called starring alongside Murphy, 63, in the new film Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F a “bucket list thing” in an interview with People published on Tuesday, July 2. “He is one of our greatest movie stars ever,” he gushed.
The upcoming Netflix film marks the fourth installment in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise, which follows Murphy’s Detective Axel Foley on his California crime-fighting adventures. Although the original Beverly Hills Cop came out in 1984 — the same year as Bacon’s iconic film Footloose — the actor said he doesn’t recall interacting with Murphy at the time.
“Our paths never crossed in the ‘80s,” Bacon explained. “We never worked together. I don’t remember even having met him — I’m sure I probably did, but I don’t remember.”
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Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F will see Axel team up with Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Detective Bobby Abbott to protect his daughter (Taylour Paige) from a dangerous situation. Bacon plays Beverly Hills police leader Captain Cade Grant.
“Eddie is somebody who is very relaxed and loose and present actor. He comes in and famously does a lot of improvising,” Bacon said of his costar. “But when he improvises, there’s improvisation where you can really feel that the improviser is trying to go for a laugh. I never saw him trying to be funny either on camera or off camera, and he’s still hilarious. To the point where sometimes I was about to lose it just because he would look at me.”
Bacon went on to share that Murphy “really watched the person that he is working with,” adding, “I’d noticed that he will pick up on some little thing that the other person is doing or saying or whatever, and kind of put it back to them. It was great. I loved working with him.”
Bacon posed alongside Murphy, Gordon-Levitt, 43, and cast members Judge Reinhold, Bronson Pinchot, John Ashton and Paul Reiser at the film’s June 20 premiere in Beverly Hills. Murphy, for his part, was joined by his fiancée, Paige Butcher, and three of his 10 children — daughters Bria, 34, Shayne, 29, and Bella, 22 — on the red carpet.
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Murphy and Butcher, 44, have been engaged since 2018. The Saturday Night Live alum made headlines last month for referring to Butcher as his “wife” multiple times on The New York Times’ “The Interview” podcast.
“I used to be so hip, I used to know who everybody was, and now there’s just so much stuff,” he stated on the Saturday, June 29, podcast episode. “I ask my wife, ‘Who’s this person?’ [She’d say], ‘Well, that song’s the biggest thing in the world.’”
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F premieres on Netflix Wednesday, July 3.
