Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey Were Originally Cast in Jerry Bruckheimer's BAD BOYS

Here’s a crazy interesting bit of what if…? movie casting that almost happened! Before Will Smith and Martin Lawrence ended up starring in producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s action comedy Bad Boys, there were two other actors signed on to star in the film… SNL alums Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey.

This seems like such bizarre casting, but it’s true! Lovitz revealed this bit of movie trivia on Rob Lowe’s podcast, Literally! with Rob Lowe, a couple of years ago. Not long after that, Bruckheimer came on the podcast and confirmed the info.

The movie was set up at Disney Studios and this iteration of the film got as far as a screen test with Michael Bay himself before, according to Bruckheimer, it fell apart because Dana Carvey dropped out. The producer explained:

“There are varying stories about what happened. There’s Jon’s version, and other people’s version. But the movie never got made with Jon and somebody else.”

That didn’t stop Bruckheimer from pushing the project forward with Michael Bay, who had only made commercials up to that point in his career. When talking about Bay, it’s explained because of his background in working with advertising clients, “he understood how to deal with the studio, and how to make them feel like they were getting what they wanted, and he ended up doing an excellent job.”

He did! Bay made a hell of a great Bad Boys movie that was so much fun to watch! The big question is, would the film have been as successful and awesome had Lovitz and Carvey actually starred in it? Or, would it have flopped, ending Bay’s feature film directing career before it even began?

The year before Bad Boys was released, Carvey and Lovitz starred in a film titled Trapped in Paradise with Nicolas Cage, which bombed at the box office and it was Carvey’s last movie where he had a lead role.