Clint Eastwood

Beverly Hills Cop: Martin Scorsese Turned Down Eddie Murphy’s Evergreen Franchise Because of Clint Eastwood

Martin Scorsese refused to do Eddie Murphy’s Beverly Hills Cop because it resembled Coogan’s Bluff.

SUMMARY

  • Martin Scorsese refused to direct Beverly Hills Cop because it resembled one of Clint Eastwood’s films.
  • The director instead chose to helm After Hours, which only gave an underwhelming box-office performance.
  • Beverly Hills Cop director revealed they originally wanted Sylvester Stallone for the lead role, in addition to Martin Scorsese.

Martin Scorsese helmed a lot of timeless films during the ‘80s, such as After HoursThe Last Temptation of Christ, and The Color of Money. However, the director also rejected a lot of scripts that ultimately ended up becoming successful franchises. That apparently also included Eddie Murphy’s Beverly Hills Cop.

martin scorsese
Martin Scorsese

Directed by Martin Brest, Beverly Hills Cop was a raging box office success. It grossed over $316 million over a measly budget of $13 million. It was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards.

Martin Scorsese Declined Beverly Hills Cop For One Specific Reason

During an interview with Deadline, filmmaker Martin Scorsese revealed Eddie Murphy’s Beverly Hills Cop was one of the projects he passed over because he did not feel like doing it:

I was getting many scripts. Witness, Beverly Hills Cop, there were a lot. But I didn’t want to make those. Then you choose your course. It’s a harder course.”

Scorsese apparently rejected the script because, for him, the storyline sort of resembled that of Don Siegal’s 1968 crime thriller Coogan’s Bluff with Clint Eastwood in the lead. In the same conversation, the renowned director noted that as a filmmaker, one should know their niche in the industry, and if one desires to make movies, one should always “figure out where you fit.”

The ‘80s was a time when a lot of movies in different genres sprouted, and several filmmakers rigorously fought for the audience’s interest. Scorsese had to make his mark and set himself apart from the others. He further added:

But all through the ‘80s I was in a diaspora trying to find a way back, into what would be considered the industry. But more importantly, trying to find my way as a filmmaker because I’d exhausted certain things. I was going in another way.”

Rejecting Beverly Hills Cop turned out to be a hard lesson for the director. He ended up making another film, After Hours, which not only gave an underwhelming performance but also a weak hit from Scorsese. With a $4.5 million budget, it only made $10.6 million worldwide.

Eddie Murphy Almost Did Not Star In Beverly Hills Cop

Martin Brest revealed in an interview with Variety that Eddie Murphy was not their first choice for Beverly Hills Cop. They originally wanted Sylvester Stallone, but things did not turn out the way they wanted so they had to replace him with Murphy. He explained:

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. That’s not what the studio really was looking to do, so he went off, and he took that script, and it became Cobra. So we wound up getting Eddie Murphy a few weeks before shooting.”

Even though it is intriguing to see Stallone’s take on it, Murphy is definitely the perfect choice for the role. It is a comedy action film anyway, and that seems to be his forte.

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