Why Antoine Fuqua did not like working with Bruce Willis on Tears Of The Solar

It might appear that it’s vitally necessary that administrators and actors no less than respect one another whereas making a movie, however Hollywood historical past is riddled with circumstances the place this merely didn’t occur. . One of the vital well-known disagreements practically turned deadly when Werner Herzog threatened to shoot (with a gun) the notoriously erratic star Klaus Kinski. during the filming of “Aguirre, the Wrath of God”. No weapons had been brandished on the set of “Hook,” however Steven Spielberg did not take pleasure in his time working with Julia Roberts (they have not labored collectively since). And then there is David O. Russellwho fought and/or terrorized stars like Amy Adams, Lily Tomlin and George Clooney; If there’s any justice, O. Russell, a once-formidable expertise who hasn’t directed a watchable movie since 2010’s “The Fighter,” will not be allowed again behind the digicam till he learns to behave like a good human being.

Bruce Willis is an actor who had a fame for being in battle along with his administrators. The sadly retired artist (who was identified with frontotemporal dementia in 2023) had a horrible time filming the horrible “Cop Out” with Kevin Smith and was so sad with the path of “Broadway Brawler” by Lee Grant that the Disney studio closed your complete filming. reducing manufacturing (thus forcing Willis to make a film called “The Sixth Sense”).

Willis additionally clashed with director Antoine Fuqua through the filming of the battle movie “Tears of the Solar,” filmed in Nigeria in 2003. It was Fuqua’s first movie for the reason that business and significant triumph of “Coaching Day.” , which earned Denzel Washington his first Academy Award for Greatest Actor. So the timing of Willis’s displeasure was a bit stunning. Fuqua was one of many hottest administrators on the town, and this movie was speculated to be a status motion movie. What may have gone mistaken?

In an interview with the BBC in 2004 Marking the discharge of Fuqua’s “King Arthur” (to not be confused with Man Ritchie’s “Variety Arthur: Legend of the Sword”), the filmmaker spoke about his controversial expertise with Willis on the set of “Tears of the Solar.” When requested which actor was “the largest ache within the ass” he had ever labored with, Fuqua replied:

“Bruce Willis. My ass hurts, no downside with that. We simply did not get alongside. We received alongside off digicam, however filming [‘Tears Of The Sun’] we simply did not get alongside. Some males do not get alongside in the case of work – you could have totally different work ethic, totally different opinions, totally different factors of view, totally different filmmaking strategies – and we do not get alongside. Off digicam we had been pals – Bruce is nice – however we simply do not get alongside in the case of work, and that is about it. »

For his half, Willis had the suitable to be hostile. In the course of the filming of the movie, he misplaced consciousness when a projectile from a staged explosion hit him within the head. He then sued Revolution Studios for damages. Fuqua continued to emphasise that his off-camera relationship with Willis was pleasant, though he implied that he lost a power struggle with the star on the ultimate minimize of the movie.