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Michael Eisner and Don Simpson argued over who originated the idea until Simpson died; Gilbert Hill was a real Detroit detective; the theme reached number three on the Billboard chart; a 2013 CBS pilot with Brandon T. Jackson as Axel's son failed; Eddie improvised much of an Oscar-nominated screenplay
In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:06:04Read transcript
- The origin is claimed by Michael Eisner, who on a podcast with the host told the story of a 1975 speeding ticket from a cop who seemed a bit of a dick gave him the germ of a movie about a Hollywood police officer; Don Simpson, who worked for him, had a 1977 idea about an East LA cop transferred to Beverly Hills but could not get a screenplay done; Eisner's lesson that being pulled over in a beater meant he needed a Mercedes-Benz is called the most privileged thing ever heard.
- Nobody planned on a black cop, so it is a high-level irony that a what-if-Stallone, pride of Italian Americans, vehicle became salient commentary neither Eisner nor Simpson intended; Simpson had just made Flashdance, and the two argued about the origin until Simpson died.
- Gilbert Hill, the Detroit police lieutenant, was an actual Detroit detective who appeared in only three movies; 48 Hours is suggested as the first instance of giving the lone black character in a movie the most powerful job with 30 seconds of screen time, a pattern that kept happening.
- The theme to Beverly Hills Cop reached number three on the Billboard chart, with Neutron Dance, The Heat Is On, Stir It Up and New Attitude also in the film; in 2013 The Shield creator Shawn Ryan tried a Beverly Hills Cop TV show, a CBS pilot with Brandon T. Jackson as Axel Foley's son that did not work.
- Writer Daniel Petrie and director Martin Brest carried pieces of different screenplays; according to Petrie, Eddie would take a line, expand it and put it in a comic persona invented for the moment, and according to Brest, whenever they got in a jam he asked Eddie for something and it knocked him to the floor; the movie was nominated for best screenplay though Eddie improvised about two thirds of it.