Axel Foley is back. Three decades after a somewhat unceremonious third installment, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F has debuted for everybody with a Netflix subscription, and the general consensus from critics is that Axel F is pretty damn good. It’s been an overall impressive run for Eddie Murphy, which makes it all the more surprising that there’s an alternate universe somewhere where Beverly Hills Cop stars Sylvester Stallone.
How exactly did Sylvester Stallone get involved in Beverly Hills Cop, and why did it eventually not work out? A new oral history of Axel Foley on The Ringer sheds more light on the topic. As it turns out you can blame, and thank, Paramount Pictures for both decisions.
How Sylvester Stallone Was Originally Cast In Beverly Hills Cop
The first Beverly Hills Cop was an early project for the fledgling production team of Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson. The pair helped develop the project, which was a more straightforward cop drama. Perhaps because of that Bruckheimer says Paramount didn’t want to cast Eddie Murphy, who was still most known for becoming a star in the Saturday Night Live cast, despite early successful film roles. Bruckheimer describes the conversation with the studio like this…
We told Paramount, 'We made it for Eddie. This is for Eddie.' 'No. Stallone.'
Sylvester Stallone was the bigger star in 1984. Both the Rambo and Rocky movies had already begun, making him a household name. It’s understandable why Paramount might want Sly in a cop movie. However, things didn’t end up working out as expected.
How Eddie Murphy Came Back Into The Axel Foley Picture
Paramount is the one paying for the movie, so it gets what it wants. Sylvester Stallone was brought in, but the actor, who is also an accomplished writer, recognized that the script as written wasn’t his sort of movie. Sly went back and wrote his own version of Beverly Hills Cop. This would ultimately bring the film back around, as Sly’s version of the movie didn’t work for Paramount either, giving Bruckheimer and Simpson the chance to go after Eddie Murphy again. Bruckheimer continued…
Sly is a terrific guy and a really good writer. He came in and said, 'I have to make it for me, for my character. It’s not written for me.' He wrote a script, it was really a good script, and gave it to us. It got really expensive. We had trains and all kinds of big action set pieces. We gave it to Paramount, and Paramount said, 'This is way too much money. We can’t do it with Stallone.' We said, 'Fine.' They said, ‘Who would you want to make it with?’ We said, 'Eddie Murphy.'
Beverly Hills Cop would still go through some changes. The original movie wasn’t particularly funny, something that changed once Eddie Muphy agreed to do it. Sylvester Stallone’s script wouldn’t be completely wasted. He would take the movie with him when he left and it would eventually become Cobra.
Sylvester Stallone would remain part of the franchise, at least spiritually. In Beverly Hills Cop II, Billy Rosewood has several Stallone posters in his house, including one for Cobra. Even Axel F has a little reference to one of Stallone's iconic roles. It's only fair. From a certain perspective, if it weren’t for Stallone, we wouldn’t have ever seen the Beverly Hills Cop that became a massive hit.
