Actor Eddie Murphy said that he found it physically demanding to reprise his character of Axel Foley, a Detroit detective from Beverly Hills Cop, in the upcoming fourth instalment of the franchise. On a recent Today show episode, Murphy told host Al Roker, "It felt like old man. I did Beverly Hills Cop when I was 21, and I’m 63 now. Now, I would rather not do any stunts. We were shooting something and the director said, ‘I want you to come out of this place and run down those steps.’ After we shot and he’s like, ‘Can you come down with more urgency? Faster?’ And I was like, ‘No!'”

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F stars Murphy as Foley, who goes back to Beverly Hills following a threat to the life of his daughter as well as joins his old friends John Taggart (John Ashton) and Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and new partner Detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to unearth a conspiracy.

Murphy first played Foley in the 1984 film Beverly Hills Cop, and he reprised the role in its sequels released in 1987 and 1994, respectively. Reflecting back on the role, Murphy said, "Beverly Hills Cop was my first movie that I’m the lead in. If I travel overseas they call me Axel Foley. Axel is an everyman. He’s not a superhero or a super-cop, he’s the everyman that rises to the occasion. I think that’s why people like it. And more than anything, he’s funny."

The fourth instalment in the franchise will release on Netflix on July 3.