When this story started unfolding, the first bit of breaking news was that Judge Reinhold and John Ashton’s cops Rosewood and Taggart would both be back and reunite with Eddie Murphy for the next Beverly Hills Cop film. Then, an apparent U-turn came when it was announced that, actually, nothing like that could be promised yet as a new writer was about to come onto the project. So… Taggart and Rosewood or no Taggart and Rosewood?

Here’s my understanding of what’s been going on. Both Taggart and Rosewood have appeared in the Brandt and Haas drafts of the script going back at least as far as last November. This might just be the underlying source of Moviehole’s story: a look at one of these scripts. They go as far as saying ” he definitely has a part to play in the upcoming Brett Ratner-directed sequel”. There’s no citation of a source near John Ashton, so the inference definitely seems to be more that the Taggart role is in play rather than the actor has been scribbling his signature on contracts.

Collider quote their own “very trusted source” as revealing ” it’s not clear who will be back on Beverly Hills Cop 4 as the studio is hiring a new writer and they are starting over”.

This is probably very good news as the scripts I have read are, to be fairly charitable, bland and uninspiring. It also means that there’s still plenty of development left to go on the picture, possibly enough that Brett Ratner will have to get up and move on. Would that be nice? I think a lot of folks would love that.

If I remember correctly, Brandt and Haas were to have Rosewood and Foley reunited in a very dull way - in a very brief telephone call just before an action scene for Foley. Surely having them reunite on screen would be considered virtually mandatory? Taggart would then come in a few pages down the line after… well, after a plot set up that I won’t spoil for you, though it might well not even be included in any finished film. It was virtually the whole point of these earlier drafts, though.

Let’s just say that those who have read some of the scripts will have been able to infer a hidden meaning or two between the lines of the Moviehole story.

The real news here would be finding out who the new writer is. Anybody have any idea? If so, please let me know.

For the record, I thought part 3 was better than 2 but neither came close to part 1. You?