We Could Have Had A ‘Speed’ Starring Eddie Murphy That Was Also A ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ Threequel

Beverly Hills Cop was famously almost very different. Before Eddie Murphy nabbed the role of rules-breaking detective Alex Foley, it was briefly in the hands of Sylvester Stallone, who wanted it to be a serious action film. Years later Murphy very, very briefly came close to changing another iconic movie.

As per IndieWire, a recent episode of the podcast 50 MPH, which documents the making of the 1994 blockbuster Speed, had as a guest Don Granger, a former exec at Paramount. The picture was ultimately produced at 20th Century Fox, but before it was, Granger was eager to get it made at Paramount.

— 50 MPH (@50MPHPod) July 3, 2023

“I really wanted to try to mount the movie, and my last-ditch effort was … I pitched it at our chairman’s lunch as a possible script for Beverly Hills Cop III,” Granger revealed. “I got about 15 minutes of traction before it was dismissed, because that was back when the mandate was to find a Beverly Hill Cop III. So I was like, ‘Let’s put Axel Foley on the bus.’ It was a Hail Mary, man.”

Granger added, “I might maintain it was a better movie, it would have been a better movie than ultimately what we got for Beverly Hills Cop III, but that was my final Hail Mary.”

One could say the right thing happened: Speed wound up at a different studio with Keanu Reeves as the hero and Sandra Bullock delivering a starmaking turn as the funny woman who takes control of the rigged bus after the driver is non-fatally shot. But what if it was Axel Rose who was the funny one and he’s trapped on a bus that can’t go below 50 miles per hour or it will explode Would Connor Roy still be aboard

Then again, as Granger noted, the world also got a not very well-received third Beverly Hills Cop that wasn’t even rated R. But at least it featured no less than George Lucas. May the in-the-works fourth get things back on track.