Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Eddie Murphy was briefly attached to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which was conceived as a remake of the 1964 Marlon Brando and David Niven movie Bedtime Story. It follows the story of two con-men who compete to swindle women out of their money.

According to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels screenwriter Dale Launer, Murphy had seen Bedtime Story and wanted to do the remake. So did director Michael Ritchie, who directed Murphy in 1986’s The Golden Child. So with Murphy and Ritchie attached, Launer took the script to Paramount — but to their surprise, Paramount passed.

Murphy left the project, but it went on in development for many more months. The film ultimately ended up at Orion Pictures and made its way into the hands of Steve Martin, who would star in the Brando role, with Michael Caine playing Niven’s role.