Control freak: why Sylvester Stallone quit the production of ‘Beverly Hills Cop’
When it comes to action stars, Sylvester Stallone is considered the cream of the crop, thanks to his performances in movies like Rambo and Rocky. Not only is Stallone a successful actor, but he has also written and directed many of his films, making him a multi-talented figure in the industry – more than just his muscles and ability to fight anyone who gets in his way.
During the early 1980s, Stallone was known for his tough-guy characters, with only a few minor uncredited cameos making up his list of comedy credits. However, he almost landed his first starring role in a comedy when he was approached to star in Beverly Hills Cop. As we know, the part ended up going to Eddie Murphy, who was in the midst of enjoying Saturday Night Live success.
The role shot Murphy to greater acclaim, and he went on to appear in many popular comedies such as Norbit and Dr Doolittle and, of course, he even voiced Donkey in the Shrek franchise. In Beverly Hills Cop, his role as Axel sees him embark on a series of challenges as he attempts to solve the murder of his childhood best friend, Mikey. The movie is a real blend of genres, combining action and comedy with the more niche buddy cop subgenre, resulting in a loveable concoction that attracted a wide viewership.
Yet, Axel was almost played by Stallone, with director Martin Brest discussing the original plans for the movie with Variety. He went on to direct the Oscar-winning Scent of a Woman in 1992, but back in the early ‘80s, Brest was struggling, having released one feature, Going in Style, in 1979. He explained, “I was fired off WarGames, and I went through a very dark personal period. I felt my nascent career was over.”
Luckily for Brest, several producers were adamant that they wanted him to direct Stallone in a comedy, “For some reason, while no one else in the business would recognise me at all, they really pursued me.” Yet, he had no faith in himself, so he turned it down at first before flipping a coin to decide if he should just stop worrying and sign on anyway. What’s the worst that could happen by giving directing another go? Brest continued, “It was heads and I was terrified, but I committed to doing it with Sylvester Stallone as the Axel character.”
With Stallone in the leading role, it didn’t take long before he was suggesting ideas of his own, even rewriting the whole script. Unfortunately for him, the studio wasn’t interested in his ideas, which were too serious and less comedic. He exited the project, leaving Brest without a leading man.
“My conception of it at the time was to do something with Stallone that nobody had ever seen before. It had some comedic elements by virtue of the fish out of water, but he wrote this thing that was a straight-out action drama,” Brest explained.
Stallone reworked his ideas into a different film, which became Cobra. Meanwhile, Brest needed someone else to play Axel, and Murphy was eventually chosen, just “a few weeks before shooting” began.
According to Brest, “The nature of Eddie’s talent and the theme that I would like to bring up and the tone that I would love to make this movie about, it was perfect.” The crew needed to readjust their ideas, but with limited time, “we restructured the whole story in a couple of weeks and went into production with basically an outline, writing as we went.”
The result was a huge success for everyone involved, grossing over $234million in the United States alone. Murphy became a bigger star, and Brest was able to go on to more significant directorial projects. Meanwhile, Stallone ended up appearing in a different comedy that year – Rhinestone – which was a commercial and critical flop.