Beverly Hills Cop's Axel Foley

He may seem like the perfect choice for Axel Foley now, but Eddie Murphy wasn't the first actor considered for the role that made him a movie star. Paramount had considered a who's who of big name actors for the role, including James Caan:

Al Pacino:

Mickey Rourke:

And their eventual choice, Sylvester Stallone:

Wait, what? Yes, the role of Axel Foley originally belonged to Sylvester Stallone. He had even arrived on the set to begin filming, but he allegedly flew into a rage over his trailer. It seems that someone had placed the wrong brand of orange juice in his trailer. Not willing to deal with his diva-like behavior, Stallone was fired and replaced by Eddie Murphy. It would be a fortuitous casting change.

Lethal Weapon: With A Vengeance

Die Hard has had a weird history for a mega budget franchise. As noted last week, the script for the first film was actually written as a sequel for Arnold Schwarzenegger's Commando. It wouldn't be the last time that a Die Hard film would use a script not originally meant for the franchise.

In the early 1990's, Brandon Lee was becoming a huge star. Fox had signed him to a gigantic contract and had even procured a script for his first big budget vehicle- Simon Says. Sadly, Brandon would pass away before the film started production. Meanwhile, Warner Brothers was looking for a script it could refashion into a Lethal Weapon sequel. It offered Fox a large sum of money to buy the script. Fox refused.

The studio had different plans for the script. They needed to start production on another Die Hard film or payout a large sum of money to Bruce Willis as a penalty. Soon Simon Says would become Die Hard: With A Vengeance.