Editing Lethal Weapon 2 (section)

===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] — which was pretty melancholy — that wasn't really where [the studio] wanted to go. But there's a lot of elements that are [ours] in ''Lethal Weapon 2'' — 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>