Eddie Murphy Opens Up About Making Latest “Beverly Hills Cop” Sequel at 63: 'I Would Rather Not Do Any Stunts'

Eddie Murphy's latest movie, 'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,' debuts on Netflix on July 3

Eddie Murphy is reflecting on returning to his iconic Beverly Hills Cop role four decades after the original movie premiered in theaters.

During Murphy's appearance on Today on Tuesday, June 18, the actor, 63, joked that making his new Netflix movie, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, "felt like old man."

"I did Beverly Hills Cop when I was 21, and I’m 63 now," the comedian said while speaking with Al Roker. "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!' "

Related: Eddie Murphy Reveals 'Surreal' Beverly Hills Cop Sequel Cameo: 'That's My Son-in-Law Tasing Me in the Neck'

"I was like, 'I'm not doing anything action. Don’t call me unless you offer me the same kind of s--- you would offer Morgan Freeman,' " he joked.

Axel F is the fourth film in the Beverly Hills Cop series, which began with the 1984 original. In the original, Murphy stars as Detroit detective Axel Foley, who goes rogue and travels to California to solve the murder of his childhood friend (James Russo). He went on to star in two sequels, the most recent of which was released in 1994.

"Beverly Hills Cop was my first movie that I'm the lead in. If I travel overseas they call me Axel Foley," Murphy said on Today. "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."

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Related: Eddie Murphy Improvised the 'Funniest Moments' in New Beverly Hills Cop, Says Director

In the latest film, Axel reunites with franchise favorites Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton) and also partners up with new characters portrayed by Taylour Paige and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

"After his daughter’s life is threatened, she (Paige) and Foley team up with a new partner (Gordon-Levitt) and old pals Billy Rosewood and John Taggart to turn up the heat and uncover a conspiracy," an official synopsis for the film reads.

Murphy previously spoke to PEOPLE about making the new movie at an older age in November, when he noted, "I am not in my 20s anymore.” He added at the time, “It was an action movie. So it was a rough one. But we got through it.”

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Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F begins streaming July 3 on Netflix.

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