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Sylvester Stallone Tried To Rewrite The ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ Script In 1984 So He Could Star In It

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 17:40 PST, Aug 30, 2016

Sylvester Stallone had the chance to star in the hit 1984 dramedy Beverly Hills Cop, according to News Australia. The 70-year-old actor has revealed why he decided to pass on his chance to play the lead character in the film that grossed a whopping $412 million worldwide.

It may have been more than 30 years since Beverly Hills Cop was released, but it doesn’t mean people are going to stop talking about it. Just now, it’s been revealed that Sylvester Stallone could have played the role that brought Eddie Murphy worldwide recognition in the ’80s.

In a new book called Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency, Sylvester Stallone and his former agent discussed why the action star refused to play Axel Foley in the hit 1984 film.

Ron Meyer, Sylvester Stallone’s former agent, revealed in the book that he called the action superstar as soon as he received the offer to play in Beverly Hills Cop.

“I knew that he probably wouldn’t want to do this film because it somewhat parodied his tough-guy image.”

And Meyer was right: Sylvester Stallone didn’t like the way the lead character would be depicted in the film, so he took it upon himself to rewrite the script, making the lead character “action-oriented” with “a wry sense of humor,” as said by Sly himself.

But producers wouldn’t accept that version of the script, so Meyer started “begging” Sylvester Stallone to do the original script. But Stallone admitted that he couldn’t “pull it off,” and then “that ship sailed.”

While Sylvester Stallone was changing the script and wondering if he could pull that role off, Eddie Murphy was chosen to play the lead character. Thanks to this role, Murphy received international fame, while the film was the No. 1 film at the U.S. box office for a whopping 14 weeks and grossed over $412 million (which is huge considering that it was 1984).

But Sylvester Stallone is not the only Hollywood star who refused to play in a film that eventually received critical acclaim. One of other examples also includes the Oscar-winning Leonardo DiCaprio who passed on the chance to play the iconic Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones.

Speaking to the author of the book, James Andrew Miller, DiCaprio admitted that he had a meeting with George Lucas about the role, but he wasn’t ready for such a role at that point in his career.

And a more shocking case than Sylvester Stallone and DiCaprio’s cases combined was the fact that Hugh Jackman turned down the offer to play James Bond. The Australian star explained that it was his busy schedule that didn’t allow him to take on the iconic role.

“I was about to shoot X-Men 2 and Wolverine had become this thing in my life and I didn’t want to be doing two such iconic characters at once.”

Sylvester Stallone was recently spotted at celebrity Madeo restaurant in West Hollywood, according to the Daily Mail. The 70-year-old action star was all smiles as he stepped out with his wife Jennifer Flavin and two of his daughters.

Apart from his two daughters that joined Sylvester Stallone at the restaurant, the Rocky star and Flavin also share 19-year-old daughter Sophia Rose, who wasn’t spotted with the family that evening.

Sylvester Stallone looked the epitome of style as he opted for a stylish sapphire blue shirt, which looked fabulous in combination with casual jeans and brown-red leather shoes.

Sylvester Stallone recently wrapped filming for Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 and is currently voicing one of the characters of the animated film Animal Crackers.

[Photo by STRF/STAR MAX/IPx/AP Images]

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hugh jackman eddie murphy Sylvester Stallone Leonardo DiCaprio
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