Sometimes script ideas for a very specific franchise are suggested – and rejected. With any luck it will be another movie, an independent one. For example, this is currently the case with the upcoming Netflix sci-fi epic “Rebel Moon” (launch: December 22): director Zack Snyder originally pitched the story as a “Star Wars” spin-off. And also the plot of “speedwe almost saw it in a completely different film series – and then without Keanu Reeves!
As former Paramount vice president of production Don Granger im The 50MPH Podcast “Speed” as we know it would hardly have been made. However, Granger really wanted to push the idea for the movie, so he pitched it at Paramount as a script proposal for a completely different movie: “Beverly Hills agent 3.”
Eddie Murphy instead of Keanu Reeves
So it wouldn’t have been Keanu Reeves, but Eddie Murphy as police officer Axel Foley, who would have jumped aboard a speeding bus to help a bus driver on a hellish ride – because there’s a bomb attached to the bus that will explode if the vehicle falls below a certain speed.
The story to suggest the speeding bus for “Beverly Hills Cop 3” was Granger’s last attempt to somehow get the movie made. after the idea was constantly rejected. However, since Paramount was obsessed with another installment of the successful Beverly Hills Cop series and therefore looking for the right material, Granger suggested, “Let’s put Alex Foley on the bus.”
“Beverly Hills Cop 3” and “Speed” both eventually came out
As is well known, the idea was rejected and the screenplay for “Beverly Hills Cop 3” was eventually written by Steven E. De Souza. In the end, Don Granger’s wish came true, but not in his own studio. Graham Yost’s “Speed” screenplay was adapted for 20th Century Fox as a standalone film with new characters and not part of a franchise. And so we got an iconic piece of action film, starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock like a 1990s dream couple — and 20th Century Fox a blockbuster.