The production also reflected the enormous leverage Eddie Murphy had acquired after the first Beverly Hills Cop became a blockbuster. Murphy was paid approximately $8 million to return as Axel Foley, and editor Billy Weber said that the actor’s increasingly demanding behavior was beginning to show during filming. Weber specifically described Murphy as “always late for filming” and said he had started to “act up on the set,” characterizing it as the emergence of “primadonna behavior.” The account was tempered by Weber’s observation that Murphy nevertheless got along well with Tony Scott, so the problem was less an open feud than the strain created by a superstar whose schedule, status, and creative importance made him difficult to manage. Once the first cut revealed that the movie had become too action-heavy, the filmmakers rewrote material and shot additional comedy scenes, effectively using Murphy’s comic presence to repair a production that had drifted away from the identity of the franchise. The finished film became a major commercial success, grossing roughly $276 million worldwide, but Murphy himself later dismissed it as a “half-assed movie” and “basically a rehash” of the original.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1980s
Eddie Murphy’s “Prima Donna” Behavior Became Part of Beverly Hills Cop II’s Production Lore
Eddie Murphy / 1980s
The production also reflected the enormous leverage Eddie Murphy had acquired after the first Beverly Hills Cop became a blockbuster. Murphy was paid approximately $8 million to return as Axel Foley, and editor Billy Weber said that the actor’s increasingly demanding behavior was beginning to show during filming. Weber specifically described Murphy as “always late for filming” and said he had started to “act up on the set,” characterizing it as the emergence of “primadonna behavior.” The account was tempered by Weber’s observation that Murphy nevertheless got along well with Tony Scott, so the problem was less an open feud than the strain created by a superstar whose schedule, status, and creative importance made him difficult to manage. Once the first cut revealed that the movie had become too action-heavy, the filmmakers rewrote material and shot additional comedy scenes, effectively using Murphy’s comic presence to repair a production that had drifted away from the identity of the franchise. The finished film became a major commercial success, grossing roughly $276 million worldwide, but Murphy himself later dismissed it as a “half-assed movie” and “basically a rehash” of the original.
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