4 Comedy Movie Duos That Almost Didn’t Make It To The Big Screen

Buddy comedies thrive on good chemistry between their leads. Otherwise, they’d be called “Stranger Comedies.” We can’t imagine the lead characters with anyone else, yet some iconic characters nearly had a different duo.

It’s hard to picture these movies without the main duo, and here are some duos that almost didn’t make it onto the big screen.

Gibson and Danny in Die Hard 3

The script for Die Hard was meant for the fourth Lethal Weapon film, which would have made the ‘Simon’ character a minor henchman instead of Hans Gruber’s brother. Mel Gibson suggested relocating the sandwich board scene but abandoned the idea due to its old looks.

Carvey and Lovltz in Bad Boys

If they had gone with the original plan of casting SNL’s Church Lady and Hanukkah Harry as the leads, this movie would have been less racy. The scene where Will Smith wakes up next to two women would have been different, with Church Lady politely asking them to cover up and share their weekly updates over breakfast.

Stallone and Nobody in Beverly Hills Cop

After Stallone left Beverly Hills Cop, he did not want to give up on his buddy comedy dreams. He made his movie, Cobra, and added some cool stuff, like stealing a Ferrari and playing chicken with a freight train. Oh, and his buddy is getting murdered in the middle of the film. Talk about a unique buddy comedy!

Eastwood and Schwimmer in Men in Black

Hollywood wanted Clint Eastwood in a buddy comedy so badly that they almost replaced Tommy Lee in Men in Black with him. They also offered David Schwimmer the role that ended up with Will Smith, and let’s face it, that would have been a disaster, so we’re glad that, ultimately, we got to see iconic actors portraying unforgettable duos.