'Bad Boys' stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence reveal surprising actors originally set to star

It's hard to imagine anyone but Will Smith and Martin Lawrence playing dynamic detectives Mike Lowry and Marcus Burnett in Bad Boys, but they weren't the first names attached to the project.

In fact, the originally selected stars seem a rather surprising choice in hindsight.

Ahead of the franchise's second sequel, Bad Boys for Life, Lawrence and Smith have shared who were the first picks for their parts.

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The Fresh Prince told Entertainment Tonight: "Yeah, it was Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz, were the original Bad Boys. That would have been a little bit of a different movie."

Smith and Lawrence landed the roles after the original script, developed by super producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, was being rewritten for Disney who eventually passed up on it. It reached Colombia Pictures who went a different route with the story, with Michael Bay as the director.

Meanwhile, Lawrence said Smith is "the best partner" he could've chosen.

It's the 25th anniversary of the original film this year, as it was released in 1995 with the first sequel, Bad Boys II, arriving eight years later in 2003.

Bad Boys for Life will see the cops reunite just when they are about retire as a cartel mob boss is out for revenge after they took him down years earlier.

While the Bad Boys franchise boasts three films, Smith has revealed he isn't happy with all the follow-up films he's made.

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Speaking on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, he said he'd "fumbled" his last couple of sequels, naming Men in Black in particular.

Although, he didn’t specify which one he was referring to.

Bad Boys For Life is in UK cinemas from 17 January. Watch a trailer below.