Beverly Hills Cop is a film that almost wasn’t made. The concept of a Detroit cop taking his attitude and tactics with him to California went through several scripts, different ideas for directors (Scorsese, Cronenberg), and a handful of 80s stars that almost became the iconic Axel Foley.
Thank the cinematic gods, though, that Murphy was finally the choice to play the brash, cocky, and witty Foley, because the film helped make him a star while making Paramount a truck load of money. Beverly Hills Cop was a monster hit in the 80s — much of that success due to Murphy — but probably would not have been if one these actors who almost ended up in the lead role actually had…
Mickey Rourke
The idea for the film came about in 1975 — after Paramount president Michael Eisner (later the CEO of Disney) had an altercation with a Beverly Hills police officer — but, it would take 8 years for a script to finally get approved. By 1983, Rourke was becoming a Hollywood “it” boy, after starring in films like Diner and Rumble Fish. Don Simpson, one of the producers of the film, came across a picture of Rourke in a magazine, and thought the budding actor would be the perfect man to fill the shoes of Axel Foley. He was cast, but due to delays, Rourke eventually dropped out and made The Pope of Greenwich Village instead.
Richard Pryor
In the early stages of the script rewrites for Beverly Hills Cop — formerly titled Beverly Drive — Richard Pryor was one of the names that was being tossed around as a lead. Pryor, himself, put the kibosh on that notion when, on June 9th, 1980, he doused his body in rum and lit himself on fire in a cocaine-fueled rage. Pryor suffered burns over 50% of his body, and doctors did not expect him to survive. He would, but by 1984, Eddie Murphy had overtaken Pryor’s status as the top African American actor in Hollywood as Pryor’s health continued to decline.
James Caan
After playing tough-guy Sonny Corleone in the Godfather series, Caan became a commodity in Hollywood, especially after his magnetic performance in Michael Mann’s 1981 classic, Thief. In the Beverly Hills Cop: Special Collector’s Edition DVD, writers Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie Jr. mention that Caan was one of their first choices when creating drafts. But, the film’s script took a more comedic turn, and Caan ended up taking a five-year break from acting after 1982’s Kiss Me Goodbye.
Al Pacino
Pacino was another name that was tossed around during the early stages of the script, but it wasn’t meant to be, as the script continued to go through rewrites. Director Martin Brest, though, was determined to work with the star, and would eventually with 1992’s Scent of A Woman. The film netted Pacino’s first and only Oscar win.
Sylvester Stallone
Out of all the actors that were almost Axel Foley, Sly came the closest. The final draft of the script was actually developed with him in mind, but in order for him to commit to the project, Stallone had to do what Stallone does: rewrite most of it. In an interview with Ain’t It Cool in 2006, Stallone recounted his side of the story:
When I read the script for BEVERLY HILLS COP, I thought they’d sent it to the wrong house. Somehow, me trying to comically terrorize Beverly Hills is not the stuff that great yuk-festivals are made from. So I re-wrote the script to suit what I do best, and by the time I was done, it looked like the opening scene from SAVING PRIVATE RYAN on the beaches of Normandy. Believe it or not, the finale was me in a stolen Lamborghini playing chicken with an oncoming freight train being driven by the ultra-slimy bad guy. Needless to say, they dropkicked me and my script out of the office, and the rest is history.
The other side of the story, is that Stallone left the picture after having a disagreement with the producers over the kind of orange juice that would be provided to his trailer, although that tale seems to be more fable than truth. Don Simpson explained, in an interview with the New York Times in 1984, that they just didn’t agree on a final draft:
Sly’s rewrite had heart, passion and pathos. It was superb. It had more edge and more of the blood vengeance motif. But it didn’t have the fish-out-of- water theme or the tension between street-smart and ”by-the-book” police.
After two days of negotiations, Sly was ousted, the producers’ version of the script was reinstated, and Eddie Murphy was called upon to fill the role. Stallone would use his version of the script for portions of his police action-drama, Cobra. The rest is history.
Martin Brest told the New York Times, ”It’s spooky but every time we got into a jam, I’d turn to Eddie and say, ‘Can you come up with something?’ And every time, he came up with something that knocked me to the floor. He’s a director’s dream. He magnifies every bit of work you do by a thousandfold.”