Jerry Bruckheimer is anxious. On a summer morning in Los Angeles, the veteran producer of blockbusters is a picture of calm. But looks can be deceptive. Bruckheimer has a new film imminent, one that like many of his projects is actually a sequel: Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, the fourth adventure for Eddie Murphy’s raucous detective, at large in La La Land.
“I’m nervous,” Bruckheimer says. “I always am when a movie is coming out. If I was smart, every one would be a hit, and obviously I’m not that smart.”
The jitters are disarming. The film business is filled with nervous people, but Bruckheimer is as close as Hollywood has left to an actual Yoda. Now 80, the producer can look back on a career that has endured for half a century. The original Beverly Hills Cop, co-produced with his late professional partner Don Simpson, was a smash in 1984. Two years later, the pair made Top Gun, with then not-quite-superstar Tom Cruise. After Simpson’s death in 1996, Bruckheimer produced Armageddon and the five films in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. His filmography is vast, and spotted with some of the most popular mass entertainments in modern American history. (Globally, his movies are estimated to have grossed a total of $12.6bn.)