Beverly Hills Cop: Why Eddie Murphy Replaced Sylvester Stallone

Sylvester Stallone was originally set to star in Beverly Hills Cop, and here’s why the 80s action movie star was replaced by comedian Eddie Murphy. The role of Axel Foley proved to be a breakout role for Eddie Murphy. The 1984 movie was his first time leading a movie after flourishing as a stand-up comedian, and the success of Beverly Hills Cop propelled Murphy to new heights and his first franchise.

As difficult as it is to imagine anyone other than Murphy bringing his comedic chops to Beverly Hills Cop, there were several other actors considered before him. Mickey Rourke, Richard Pryor, Al Pacino, and James Caan were all linked to the project at one time, but it was Sylvester Stallone who came the closest to starring in the film. After establishing himself as a huge star with the Rocky franchise and launching another with First Blood. It’s no wonder why Paramount wanted him to lead Beverly Hills Cop, so why didn’t it happen?

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Stallone was attached to play Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop up until two weeks before production started. However, he had developed a different idea of what the movie should be in the lead up to cameras rolling. Stallone took Beverly Hills Cop‘s script into his own hands and overhauled the tone and story. He made the movie a straight-up action movie, all but eliminating the humor Foley was supposed to have. Paramount didn’t agree with this new take, partially due to the increased budget it would require. Instead of sticking around to do the version of Beverly Hills Cop the studio wanted, Stallone walked away from the project, leading Paramount to hire Eddie Murphy just two days later.

In the years since Beverly Hills Cop‘s release, a few details about Stallone’s version of the film have been revealed. The increased action gave Beverly Hills Cop a new ending where the finale revolved around Axel driving a stolen Lamborghini in a high-stakes game of chicken with a freight train controlled by the villain. Stallone also compared his take to Saving Private Ryan‘s opening beach storming scene. Stallone planned for Billy Rosewood (named Siddons in his script) to die halfway through and Mikey Tandino to be Axel’s brother. Furthermore, Stallone changed Axel’s name to Axel Cobretti, which served as the inspiration for him to make Cobra in 1986.

Stallone not doing Beverly Hills Cop worked out for the best though. The movie still probably would’ve been a hit with him in the lead, but Eddie Murphy helped make Beverly Hills Cop the highest-grossing movie of the year domestically thanks to long legs at the box office. Audiences and critics raved about his comedic ability in the role, indicating that Stallone’s ideas to take the humor away might not have been the right move. Even though the addition of Murphy did require some rewrites, they were nothing compared to what Stallone had proposed. Ultimately, Beverly Hills Cop became a huge success with Murphy in the lead instead of Stallone, and Murphy is scheduled to return for Beverly Hills Cop 4 in the future.

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