“Mate, if you told me this was happening, I wouldn’t believe it either,” says Molloy. “How did a boy from Ballarat end up shutting down Rodeo Drive to shoot a car chase?”
How indeed? Unlike other first-timers, Molloy didn’t pay his way odd-jobbing on film sets but instead made his name in the advertising world, working as a commercial director for the world’s biggest brands, including Samsung, Nike and Toyota.
“When you’re directing a commercial, you’re constantly managing the client, so you learn quickly how to blend what you like and what they need,” explains Molloy. “Which really is useful when you end up working for a big studio on a franchise film.”
In 2018, he directed the widely celebrated This is Footy Country advertisement for Telstra, but it was his series of Apple commercials, The Underdogs that put him on the map. The Apple work garnered more than 157 million views and won the coveted Film Grand Prix at Cannes Lions, but most importantly, they caught the attention of Jerry Bruckheimer.
“I was away shooting a movie overseas, and my agent called me and was like, ‘Bruckheimer needs to get on the phone with you,’” says Molloy. “He loved the Apple ads and wanted to work together. He started sending me a bunch of scripts, but none of them felt right, and then one day, Beverly Hills Cop 4 arrived in my inbox.”
Within an instant Molloy was transported back to his uncle’s floor, a nine-year-old kid in a small town, dreaming of something bigger: “I wanted to do it, but Jerry had to convince both Netflix and Eddie to take a risk on some guy from Australia.”
Mark Molloy (left) and Jerry Bruckheimer attend the film’s premiere in Beverley Hills, California.Credit: Getty Images for Netflix
Molloy was summoned to an address high in the Hollywood Hills for a pitch meeting at Murphy’s house.
“Jerry was running a bit late, so I was just sitting on the couch by myself in Eddie Murphy’s house,” laughs Molloy. “I knew every single word to [Murphy’s films] Delirious and Raw growing up, so all I could think was, ‘Don’t f— this up.’”
Thankfully, Molloy’s pitch to deliver a gritty and heartfelt 80s action comedy seemed to hit the right notes, and the next thing you know, a boy from Ballarat is shutting down Rodeo Drive.
Mark Molloy makes his directorial debut in Beverley Hills Cop: Axel F.Credit: Andrew Cooper / Netflix, Inc.
Pitching to Murphy is one thing, but working with him is another, and Molloy admits that being on set with a comedy legend comes with its own challenges. “I’d tell him my perspective, and we’d discuss it, but the comedy stuff was tricky,” says Molloy. “I can’t go to Eddie Murphy and tell him how to be funny because that’s crazy.”
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While Netflix decided against a theatrical release, Molloy planned to return home and screen the film at the legendary Regent Cinemas in Ballarat. The venue unexpectedly closed last week, but Molloy still intends to bring Beverly Hills back to where it all began.
