One Clint Eastwood Film Made Martin Scorsese Turn Down Eddie Murphy’s ‘Beverly Hills Cop’
Martin Scorsese had to reject the film because it was too similar to Clint Eastwood's classic movie!
SUMMARY
- One of the directors that were considered for the original Beverly Hills Cop was the iconic Martin Scorsese.
- Scorsese rejected the opportunity because he felt the plot was too similar to one of Clint Eastwood’s movies, Coogan’s Bluff.
- Clint Eastwood hated smoking cigars but was forced to do so for the sake of his character in the iconic film.
Clint Eastwood has been an iconic actor ever since he stepped foot in Hollywood. With several action movies to his name, veteran director Martin Scorsese once refused to direct a film which he thought was too similar to one of Eastwood’s offerings.
Talking about the classic 1984 movie Beverly Hills Cop, the movie saw a plethora of directors and actors rejecting the movie. One of these rejections was from Martin Scorsese who felt that the plot was too similar to one of Clint Eastwood’s iconic movies.
When Martin Scorsese Rejected A Movie Because of Clint Eastwood!
Back in 1984, director Martin Brest released the buddy cop action-comedy movie Beverly Hills Cop. With a plot of Axel Foley helping a murder investigation and things going south (in a hilarious way), the movie received quite great reviews.
Also read: Steven Spielberg’s Favorite War Film Starring Clint Eastwood Got Made Due To Elizabeth Taylor’s Children
During the production and writing of the movie, Martin Scorsese was considered as a director of the film. As per the book, Martin Scorsese: A Biography, the director read the plot of the movie and rejected the offer. The director revealed that he felt the concept of Beverly Hills Cop was too similar to Clint Eastwood’s 1968 film Coogan’s Bluff. After Scorsese, David Cronenberg also turned down the movie.
Instead of Eddie Murphy, several actors such as Al Pacino, Sylvester Stallone, and James Caan were also considered for the role. It was Murphy who brought in the humor and a comedic element in the movie which made the movie unique. As for Clint Eastwood, the veteran actor had to go through some disgusting acts just for starring in a role.
Clint Eastwood Had To Smoke Cigars For His Role!
Portraying the iconic role of Man with No Name, Clint Eastwood worked alongside Italian director Sergio Leone on The Dollars Trilogy. Becoming famous with his on-screen role, Eastwood had to grab some cigars for a shot but Eastwood revealed to The Independent (via Far Out) that he felt like throwing up.
“I went out and bought a bunch of cigars that I thought would look good in a western. I had no idea they’d taste so vile. But I brought those along with me and I gave them to props and we cut them all up.”
Eastwood further continued that when Sergio Leone wasn’t satisfied with a single take, he said to the director,
“You better get it this time, because I’m going to throw up”.
Despite his character being known for smoking cigars, Clint Eastwood never smoked in real life and hated it. As for the film that was too similar to Eastwood’s Coogan’s Bluff, Beverly Hills Cop received a rating of 7.4/10 on IMDB and 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
