Stallone harbored ambitions successfully previous movie stardom in 1983, and was already showing on them. He’d written and directed 4 movement photos (“Paradise Alley,” “Rocky II,” “Rocky III” and “Staying Alive”), and, aside from the important/industrial fiasco of his “Saturday Night Fever” sequel, reasonably believed he knew what was biggest for his career. Eager to have a greenlit picture, Simpson and Bruckheimer allowed him to reshape Petrie’s screenplay to his liking.
According to a 1984 New York Times article on the making of “Beverly Hills Cop,” Stallone’s sort out the material clashed with the producers’ shared imaginative and prescient:
“‘Sly’s rewrite had coronary coronary heart, passion and pathos,’ Mr. Simpson acknowledged. ‘It was wonderful. It had further edge and additional of the blood vengeance motif.’ But it didn’t have the fish-out-of-water theme or the stress between street-smart and ‘by-the-book’ police.”
Simpson and Bruckheimer preferred Petrie’s draft, at which degree Stallone exited the enterprise.
Paramount honcho Barry Diller was flummoxed. Two of his brightest protégés had chased a star off a potential blockbuster. Who had the form of industrial cachet to fill that void? How about the “Saturday Night Live” phenom who’d merely made two area office hits for the studio? Though “48 Hrs.” and “Trading Places” hadn’t completed “Rocky III” business, they’d confirmed vastly worthwhile for Paramount, indicating pretty clearly that Eddie Murphy was primed to explode. Simpson made the suggestion, and the boss bit. Per the producer, “Diller took the cigar out of his mouth, took three steps and replied, ‘I adore it.’”