For fans of Beverly Hills Cop, ending the Eddie Murphy-led franchise on part three seemed less than favourable.
Despite the film including a cameo from Star Wars’ George Lucas, it excluded one of the main characters, John Taggart, and received lacklustre reviews from fans.
Now, not only does John Ashton’s character make a return to the franchise in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, but the film also gives a sly nod to its previous errors.
Chatting to Sky News, Judge Reinhold notes the on-screen recognition alongside his co-star Ashton.
“Do you remember reading that line where [Joseph Gordon-Levitt] references it? He says, ’94 wasn’t a great year for you’ in the movie?
“I didn’t notice that until I saw it [in the script]. That’s funny”.
The cop duo of John Taggart (played by Ashton) and Billy Rosewood (played by Reinhold) are reunited in the Netflix film.
Recreating a moment from the 1985 original, it was the first time Murphy, Reinhold and Ashton shared the screen together since the second film premiered in 1987.
“That was the first time we’d seen each other in a long time. We were two blocks away from the original location in 84. It was wild,” says Reinhold.
“Jerry Bruckheimer was there and the crew, they were especially quiet. It’s like it was kind of spooky for them. We’d walked out of their collective past or out of a book or something because they were so young when they’d seen it”.
He adds: “It feels like when the three of us are together, something good is going to happen.”
Chiming in, Ashton says it felt special for both the cast and crew.
“One crew guy said to me, ‘I was eight years old when the first one came out and seeing you guys back in the car is giving me the chills’.”
Pic: Melinda Sue Gordon/Netflix
Newcomers to the cop comedy include Joseph Gordon Levitt as Axel Foley’s new sidekick and Kevin Bacon as the villain, Captain Grant.
‘We all have a little darkness in our soul’
Bacon also takes on a villainous role in his next movie, Maxxxine, which is out just a few days after Beverly Hills Cop.
“They’re both really fun and really, really different. I have a job where I can go and be a slick, well-dressed, well-groomed, you know, smiling jack of a Beverly Hills cop.
“And then a few months later go and be whoever that guy is that they scraped off the bottom of the barrel for Maxxxine.”
He adds: “There is a therapeutic aspect to it for sure, because we all have a little bit of darkness in our soul.”
The original Beverly Hills Cop was first released a year after Bacon’s breakthrough role in the Oscar-nominated Footloose.
Pic: Netflix
The American star says that moment in time felt like a whirlwind to him.
‘Laughing so hard, tears were rolling down my face’
“I was introduced to Beverly Hills in a different way because I had starred in Footloose.
“I’d probably been to California a few times before, but Beverly Hills was something that I was kind of watching from a distance. And, after Footloose came out, people would take me to dinner in Beverly Hills – it was like a little bit different.”
Turning to Beverly Hills Cop, he says Murphy is a force of nature.
“I happened to be on a plane the other day, and I dipped into one of his old comedy specials.
“It just kind of came up on my YouTube feed and I was on this plane trying my best to not disturb the passengers around me. But tears were rolling down my face and I was laughing so hard.
“And it’s funny because I thought to myself, oh, that’s right, Eddie was an incredible, is an incredible comedian. Because, you know, when I go to work with an actor, I think about the scene, you know, of course he’s funny.
“And of course, he’s going to be throwing stuff out there and improvising and everything, but it’s really about relating to him as an actor, not as a funny man.”
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is streaming on Netflix now.