Prior to
Paul Michael Glaser being hired as director, executive producer
Rob Cohen had hired four other directors in his attempts to make the movie. The first was
George P. Cosmatos, who had impressed Cohen with his work on
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985). However, when Cosmatos announced that he wanted to relocate the entire film to a shopping mall, Cohen let him go, feeling that Cosmatos was taking the script in an unacceptable direction. Cohen next offered the project to German director
Carl Schenkel, having been impressed with
Abwärts (1984), but Schenkel turned him down as he didn't feel comfortable taking on such a large project. Next, Cohen hired
Ferdinand Fairfax, based upon his work on
Nate and Hayes (1983). Like Cosmatos however, Fairfax began to take the screenplay in a direction which Cohen disliked, so once again, he let him go. Cohen then turned to
Andrew Davis, having enjoyed Davis' movie
Code of Silence (1985). Davis actually got the project off the ground and into production, but only eight days into the shoot, he was already $8 million over budget and four days behind schedule. As such Cohen let Davis go, and ultimately hired Glaser, whom he had worked with on the first season of
"Miami Vice" (1984).
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