Kevin Bacon Cast in Eddie Murphy's Beverly Hills Cop 4

Beverly Hills Cop 4 has added Kevin Bacon to star alongside Eddie Murphy in the long-awaited next film in Murphy's famous franchise. Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley has already cast Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Taylour Paige in leading roles, with Paul Reiser, Judge Reinhold, Bronson Pinchot, and John Ashton all reprising their roles from previous films. Commercial director Mark Molloy is making his directorial debut with the film, with a script by Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol), along with Will Beall (Aquaman). Eddie Murphy is also producing the film alongside super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Chad Oman. 

While no details are being given about Kevin Bacon's role in the film, it should be noted that Kevin Bacon has been on something of a bad-boy kick lately in his career. Bacon currently stars in Showtime's City on a Hill, in which he plays a longtime (and corrupt) FBI agent. He also starred in Peacock's LGBTQ+ thriller They/Them, playing a mentally-maniacal counselor at a gay conversion camp. Knowing how Hollywood works, it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine that someone has seen the morally shaky characters Bacon has been playing and thought he would be a good-possibly-evil character to keep things in Beverly Hills 4 slightly off-kilter. 

Netflix scooped-up Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley from Paramount, in a partnership production that will put the sequel onto the streaming service, with Netflix getting the option to do an additional sequel. The time seems to be now for Murphy to get the film out: he already revisited old ground by making Coming 2 America for Amazon Prime Video and topped the streaming charts with it. Top Gun: Maverick just finished crushing box office records, making Tom Cruise an even bigger Hollywood hero in the post-pandemic era of the industry. Now Murphy and Co. can do Beverly Hills Cop 4 and nail it after the sequel has lingered in development hell for years. 

"I didn't feel any pressure," Murphy told Collider about putting that jacket on as Axel Foley back in the 80s. "When you're young, you kind of take everything for granted. So, that's all I knew. You know? Stuff started happening fast for me, so I didn't even think about it. Now, when I look back, I'm like, 'Wow! I was really young!' 48 Hrs, I'm 20 years old in 48 Hrs. You aren't thinking that at the time. But, now I can say, 'Wow. I was really young.' There was no pressure back then, I was just rolling with it."

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley is in production. 

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