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Lethal Weapon 2
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==Production== ===Shane Black and Warren Murphy's original ''Play Dirty'' script=== Following the success of the first film, Warner Bros. and producers decided to make the sequel. Producer [[Joel Silver]] asked writer of the first film [[Shane Black]] to write the script for the sequel in the spring of 1987 and Black agreed.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/03/movies/at-the-movies.html|title=AT THE MOVIES|date=3 April 1987|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=2016-09-25}}</ref> Although he was struggling with personal issues, Black still managed to write the first draft along with his friend, novelist [[Warren Murphy]], co-creator of [[Remo Williams]] (the lead character of ''[[The Destroyer (novel series)|The Destroyer]]'' novels). Their original title for the script was ''Play Dirty. Although many people thought that their script was brilliant, it was rejected by Silver, the studio, and director Richard Donner for being too dark and bloody, and because in the ending of the script Riggs dies, while they wanted to keep him alive in case of further sequels. They also wanted the second film to focus more on comedy, while Black's draft focused more on courage and heroics, like Riggs willing to die to protect Murtaugh and his family, due to his love for them.<ref name="auto">{{cite news|url=https://articles.latimes.com/2005/may/01/entertainment/ca-black1/2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506203603/http://articles.latimes.com/2005/may/01/entertainment/ca-black1/2|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 May 2016|title=The end of a fade for Black|first=Strawberry|last=Saroyan|date=1 May 2005|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=2016-09-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://theplaylist.net/shane-black-talks-predator-details-defending-mel-gibson-lethal-weapon-5-20160521/2/|title=Lethal Weapon II|quote= "It was clear, at the end of our draft [co-written with friend Warren Murphy] β which was pretty melancholy β that wasn't really where [the studio] wanted to go. But there's a lot of elements that are [ours] in ''Lethal Weapon 2'' β we still received a 'story by' credit. I recognized things when I watched "Lethal Weapon 2" that was in the script that we wrote, but the tone is totally different."|website=Theplaylist.net|date=21 May 2016 |access-date=2016-09-25}}</ref> When his script was rejected, Black felt that he had failed the producers. He initially offered to give his payment back, but his agent talked him out of it. Black also refused to re-write the script and quit from the project after working for six months on it. Black later said how the problem with the second film was that they did too much comedy, and how he dislikes the third and fourth films because of the way Riggs's character was changed. The final version of the script written by [[Jeffrey Boam]] that was used for filming was completely different from Black's draft, other than the scene where the stilt house is destroyed. The character of Leo Getz was originally a minor character in Black's draft with only one scene and few lines of dialogue. Some of the other differences include more graphic violence throughout the script, which included the South Africans being even more vicious than in the final film; at one point Shapiro, the female police officer working with Riggs and Murtaugh, is tortured to death by them. There was also a scene where Riggs gets tortured by them in a similar way to how he was in first film, but much worse. There was also an action scene in the script where a plane full of cocaine gets destroyed and cocaine falls over Los Angeles "like snow." In Black's script the final battle took place on hills covered with a big brush fire, and after destruction of the stilt house Riggs chases the main villain Benedict (Pieter Vorstedt in the film), a much different and more dangerous character in the original script and Riggs's "arch-nemesis and worst nightmare" according to Black, into the heart of the fire, after which Riggs gets stabbed and dies slowly from his wounds. The last scene in the script was Murtaugh watching the video tape that Riggs made before the final battle since he knew that he was going to die, and on which he says goodbye to Murtaugh. Black's reason for killing Riggs in his draft of the script, as he said in an interview, was that in first film Riggs was a "suicidal mess" who did not care about living or dying but his friendship with Murtaugh and his family was what helped him, and him sacrificing himself to save them would be the last thing he would have to do to be fully at peace. Black also said how the death scene he wrote for Riggs was "beautiful" and would make the audience cry. Black later labeled his rejected ''Play Dirty'' script "the best thing I ever wrote" and said he learned to trust his instincts after this experience. Black's script was never released, despite failed attempts by fans to find a copy of it.<ref>Shane Black, Empire Magazine interview; "The problem was that with Lethal Weapon 2 they did a lot of comedy. My draft had one scene with Joe Pesci's guy. He had a few lines. In their version, they had essentially the same character but throughout the entire script. It's all about edge to me." About Riggs dying in his script; "This guy who was gradually brought back to life and brought back into the real world, and he can let his guard down and learn to accept the love of real people, and in my version of the sequel that's the very love for that family that makes him say 'ok, now I gotta go back and die, basically, to protect them'. And they didn't like that idea."</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-01-01-ca-54-story.html|title=Close Call for Mel|date=1 January 1989|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=2016-09-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://creativescreenwriting.com/i-like-violence|title=Lethal Weapon II|quote="It's the best thing I ever wrote. There's no question the draft of Lethal Weapon II that I wrote, death and all, is my best work. Head and shoulders, intensity wise, above a lot of the stuff I've done."|website=Creativescreenwriting.com|access-date=2016-09-25}}</ref><ref name="auto"/><ref name="auto1">Deans, Laurie (January 13, 1989). "LA CLIPS Lethal Weapon II script defused". ''The Globe and Mail''.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://theplaylist.net/shane-black-reveals-arnold-schwarzenegger-wont-lead-predator-talks-time-travel-horror-script-20160609/|title=Lethal Weapon II|quote= "Shane [was] a smart, caustic young guy, and wanted to kind of show the world he knew what he was doing and he decided to kill Martin Riggs in act 2 [of 'Lethal Weapon 2'], and spare us two other movies [laughs]," Silver said. "But the studio didn't think that was such a good idea, so we didn't do that. But most of the story of 'Lethal 2' was Shane's, and most of the set up and pay off were Shane's."|website=Theplaylist.net|date=9 June 2016 |access-date=2016-09-25}}</ref> Director [[Richard Donner]] said in the film's Blu-ray commentary that the film was shot in such a way that it could be edited with two different endings, one in which Riggs dies and one in which he lives. Audiences in test screenings responded well to Riggs's survival, and this was kept, though the last shot in the film with the camera moving away from Murtaugh holding Riggs was shot for the ending in which he dies.<ref>Lethal Weapon 2, Director Richard Donner's Blu-Ray commentary</ref> ===Jeffrey Boam's final script=== When the original Shane Black screenplay was changed, he left the series. The rewrites that resulted in the final film are by [[Jeffrey Boam]] (screenwriter for ''[[Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade]]'' and ''[[The Lost Boys]]''). Boam also did some uncredited re-writing of the script for the first film when Donner thought that some parts of it were too dark and violent.<ref name="auto1"/> Boam initially wrote two different drafts for his re-write of '' Lethal Weapon 2''; one which was hard-boiled action script and one which had more comedy. He was told to mix the two drafts together and make a new one that was going to be used for filming. However, not only did Boam end up having to re-write the script many times even before filming started, but he also had to keep re-writing it during production since Donner would always want to improvise something new in a scene or demanded changes to be made on the script in the middle of filming. Boam also wrote the script for ''[[Lethal Weapon 3]]'' and he once again had to re-write his script many times before and during filming of that sequel for same reasons. He also wrote an unused draft for the fourth film around January 1995 which had Riggs and Murtaugh fighting against a neo-Nazi survivalist militia group that was committing a terrorist attack in L.A.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.assignmentx.com/2013/exclusive-interview-the-last-crusade-of-screenwriter-jeffrey-boam/ |title=Exclusive Interview: The Last Crusade of Screenwriter Jeffrey Boam Assignment X |website=Assignmentx.com |date=2 May 2013 |access-date=2016-09-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/06/movies/two-summer-blockbusters-one-busy-screenwriter-scene-indiana-jones-last-crusade.html|title=Two Summer Blockbusters, One Busy Screenwriter a scene from ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' (Murray Close)-going for glib|date=6 August 1989|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=2016-09-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://theoccasionalcritic.blogspot.mx/2009/09/jeffrey-boam-interview-1992.html |title=The Occasional Critic: The Jeffrey Boam interview, 1992 |website=Theoccasionalcritic.blogspot.mx |date=2009-09-24 |access-date=2016-09-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://theoccasionalcritic.blogspot.mx/2009/09/jeffrey-boam-interview-june-1995.html |title=The Occasional Critic: Jeffrey Boam interview, June 1995 |website=Theoccasionalcritic.blogspot.mx |date=2009-09-30 |access-date=2016-09-25}}</ref><ref>The Gross: The Hits, The Flops: The Summer That Ate Hollywood by Peter Bart</ref> Screenwriter [[Robert Mark Kamen]] said in October 2012 interview for craveonline that during the time when he was working as screenwriter for Warner Bros. and would often do lot of uncredited work on their films, he also worked on ''Lethal Weapon 2'' and ''3''. He said how amongst large chunks of the stuff he added in ''Lethal Weapon 2'' script during re-writes were all the parts with South African villains. Although he was uncredited for his work on this film, he did get a credit for his work on ''Lethal Weapon 3'' because he did a lot more work on that sequel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.craveonline.com/site/197469-not-a-sequel-robert-mark-kamen-on-taken-2-bloodsport-and-karate-kid |title=Not a Sequel: Robert Mark Kamen on Taken 2, Bloodsport and Karate Kid |website=CraveOnline.com |date=2012-10-08 |access-date=2016-09-25}}</ref> Originally, the character of Rika was intended to survive, with the last scene in the film being Riggs and Rika eating [[Thanksgiving]] dinner with the Murtaughs, but the director decided to kill the character to increase Riggs' motivation to destroy the South African drug smugglers. The film was the debut of Leo Getz ([[Joe Pesci]]), a crooked but whistle-blowing [[Certified Public Accountant|CPA]] who is placed in protective custody by Riggs and Murtaugh, and makes the detectives' more difficult due to his neurotic behavior. The Getz character remained a regular throughout the remainder of the film series. ===Filming=== The scene where Riggs is on the road outside Arjen's stilt house and grabs onto the front of the truck (the same scene with the surfboard killing a driver) was filmed on March 21, 1989. The opening chase sequence was filmed on November 28, 1988. The scenes where Riggs and Rika are ambushed by helicopters at night on the beach were filmed at Marineland of the Pacific in [[Rancho Palos Verdes, California]], on "Cobble Beach". Other portions of the film were shot in [[Palm Springs, California]].<ref name=Niemann>{{cite book| last = Niemann| first = Greg| title = Palm Springs Legends: creation of a desert oasis| publisher = [[Sunbelt Publications]]| year = 2006| location = San Diego, CA| page = 286| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RwXQGTuL1M0C&q=palm+springs+film+locations&pg=PA169| isbn = 978-0-932653-74-1|oclc=61211290}}<!-- {{LCC|F869 P18 N45 2006}} {{ASIN|093265374X}}--> ([http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0516/2005021837.html here for Table of Contents])</ref>{{rp|168β71}}
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