Eddie Murphy: “Beverly Hills Cop III Was Horrible.”

There’s more from Eddie Murphy now, and he’s got plenty to say to about his most famous franchise, so let’s get to it. There’s a lot of naughty language here, too, as if he’s making a point about getting back to Axel Foley form. What form is that? Read on.

Why a fourth Beverly Hills Cop movie?

“Because the third ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ was horrible! I didn’t want to leave it like that. The first two were cool and the third one was shitty. [Let's] get the franchise fixed again, clean up this old mess and do a good movie. [Don't] just leave Axel with his thumb up his a– from the last movie. ‘Whatever happened to Axel Foley? He’s sitting in Detroit with his thumb up his ass since ‘Beverly Hills Cop III.’ Let’s take those thumbs out and make a great movie!”

“When I go overseas they still call me Axel Foley — kids call me Axel Foley, I think that character, it resonated like no other movie, like nothing that I’ve done before.”

What about the rumors that Brett Ratner is planning to tone down the language with Beverly Hills Cop IV and go for a PG-13?

“I’ll tell you what about profanity. Over the last 20 years or so, because of the studios, everybody figured out there’s a PG-13 audience, you know, and that’s the biggest piece of the pie. And a bunch of artists, myself included, got put in this PG-13 box — artists that aren’t PG-13 artists! Then comedies like ‘Superbad,’ ‘Knocked Up,’ and ‘Juno’ come out and people go, ‘Oh, this is the brilliant shit.’ And it’s just people acting like real people, talking like real people. And those movies are making all the money now.

“Get back to the real shit,” he added, regarding what he most wants for Foley. “That’s where I started. [Be] a real person!”

“I’ve been in a bunch of different meetings with people, ‘Oh, we have to take Axel this way.” I ain’t seen no script yet [but] I’m not rolling out ‘Beverly Hills Cop 4’ for it to be a continuation of ‘Beverly Hills Cop III,’ which was a crock of shit. I wanna do a good one!”