Trivia / Lethal Weapon 4

• All-Star Cast: The series finally hits this trope, in part due to successful lead outings by Joe Pesci and Rene Russo in the interim. The movie also adds rising star Chris Rock and Jet Li, an international Martial Arts Movie superstar making his American debut. Notably, the poster art includes names and pictures for all six stars. The money needed for the cast, including a record $30 million for Mel Gibson, spiraled the budget to $140 million, four times the budget of Lethal Weapon 3, which resulted in the film being the only one of the series not to make its money back despite still having a very successful box office run.
• Dear Negative Reader: Another interpretation of the Take That! on the main page is that it was aimed at the National Rifle Association, which had criticized the series for its devil-may-care attitude towards safe gun handling.
• Money, Dear Boy: During the press rounds of Braveheart, Mel Gibson addressed the rumors of a fourth Lethal Weapon being on the table by saying he was reluctant to return, worrying that he and the series would become a Franchise Zombie. He signed on the next year when Warner Bros. paid him $30 million upfront, a record payout at the time for an actor in terms of a flat fee without a box office back-end.
• The Other Darrin: In the Canadian French dub, Denis Mercier replaces Hubert Gagnon as the voice of Riggs, while Hélène Mondoux replaces Marie-Andrée Corneille as the voice of Lorna.
• Playing Against Type: Jet Li was delighted to get the role of Wah Sing Ku because in China he is repeatedly typecast as a hero and he revelled getting a chance to play a villain for once. He would play villains in other American movies afterwards, but this was his first real bad guy role.
• Spared by the Cut: Originally, Mel Gibson insisted his character be killed off in the movie, as he felt this should be the last movie. After filming was completed, he retracted his statements, saying he had such fun making the movie, he'd be happy to do another one. The film teased fans with his original statements by hinting he was going to die by drowning after the concrete slab fell on him while Murtaugh was still unconscious.
• Star-Making Role: The film was responsible for introducing American audiences to Jet Li - doubly so as he played the main villain, which helped break his typecasting as strictly heroic characters.
• Uncredited Role: Carrie Fisher was an uncredited contributor to the script.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Jeffrey Boam's unused script was built around Riggs and Murtaugh dealing with racist white trash right-wing neo-Nazi survivalist militia group who were doing a terrorist attack in L.A. The fourth film was also supposed to be a Darker and Edgier sequel.
  • Jackie Chan was considered for Wah Sing Ku, but turned it down, because he chooses never to play the villain in a movie. Ken Leung was also considered.
  • Sean Combs, Eddie Murphy, Will Smith and Chris Tucker were considered for Lee Butters. Jackie and Chris would go on to appear in their own Buddy cop comedy franchise with Rush Hour, with the first film of which being released in the same year as this one.
  • Butters was originally going to be a gay character but once filming started, everyone involved realized how the decision to make him gay didn't work, so his character was re-written again to be a husband of Roger's daughter Rianne.
  • This was the only movie of the series not to have a soundtrack album accompany it^note well... not a legal one, anyway there was a compilation of Michael Kamen's work on the series planned - which never happened. Instead, in 2013 La-La Land Records issued an 8-CD Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition with expanded score presentations for the first four movies, along with the final film's score and remastered editions of the three soundtrack albums. So it all worked out.
  • The final fight was supposed to be between Wah Sing Ku and Riggs alone, but after a short rehearsal they decided to add Murtaugh to it because they realised it was not remotely believable that Mel Gibson stood a chance in a one-on-one fight against Jet Li.
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: The film was fast-tracked into production without a script, leading to it being written on-the-fly during principal photography by no less than four credited writers (Channing Gibson, Jonathan Lemkin, Alfred Gough, Miles Millar) and at least three uncredited contributors (Tony Gilroy, Jonathan Hensleigh, Graham Yost). In the end, Gibson was given a screenplay credit, while Lemkin, Gough, and Millar were given a "Story by" credit.

---