Bruce Willis: salary, scams… behind the scenes of the end of his career

Dive behind the scenes of Bruce Willis’ latest films, from how they were produced to the people behind them… the business itself and discovering the conditions of Hollywood B and Z filming during Direct-to. Features offered by DVD and platforms.

on the pages of the book producersBy Luke Ford, Randall Emmett presents himself as having “distant cousin” Jerry Bruckheimer and says he got his start as a production assistant on John Badham’s The Hard Way.

A graduate of the New York School of Visual Arts, he produced several short films, followed by his first feature, Eyes Beyond Seeing, released in 1995. Moved to Los Angeles, Bruckheimer’s intern, assistant to talent agent Nick Stein for a year. Mark Wahlberg’s personal assistant for two years, Emmett tries things out, observes, learns, and meets someone who will change everything: George Furla, a former Wall Street man.

Together, with little money, in 1999 they created the first joint project Speedway Junky. It was after this experience that they began producing on a larger scale with Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films (also called EFO Films; (Oasis is a Dubai-based firm).

For information, St producersEmmett describes his co-worker as a “Thinking Manipulator” and himself as “noisy and hateful”. It should be noted that the producer would years later be accused of several inappropriate and/or dangerous behaviors, as seen in this very comprehensive article. LA Times.

Shy start

In the early 2000s, the “EFO recipe” was already there. The idea is to cast well-known and respected actors in a low-budget film to attract audiences and pre-sell the project internationally. Most of these projects were made direct-to-video at a time when DVD was booming and making VHS completely obsolete.

From 2021, the fruit of this recipe was called “Geyser teasers“, which can be translated as “teasing of the old”, because they emphasize the old glories of cinema on the promotional material, which are more on the posters than in the finished film.

In the early 2000s, the first to be tempted were actors who were losing places or could no longer find prestigious projects, such as Ray Liotta (in Joe Carnahan’s Very Cool Narc), Billy Bob Thornton (in Troubled Waters), Charlie Sheen (Le Courrier du cœur ), Val Kilmer (Wonderland, Blind Horizon), Steven Seagal (Journey to Hell, Deep Sea Trap), Wesley Snipes (Out of Control), the list goes on…

Filming often takes place in a country where the tax credit is extremely beneficial. As for financing the film itself, Emmett and Furla will get anywhere. At the risk of sometimes alienating partners.

Full throttle method

In 2005, they manage to hire stars than in the era of time, such as Nicolas Cage (The Wicker Man, 2006), John Cusack and Morgan Freeman (The Contract, 2006), Al Pacino (88 Minutes, 2007), Sylvester. Stallone, whose John Rambo (2008) they are eagerly financing, and Law & Order with Pacino and Robert De Niro.

Once these stars are in the address book, they will turn them into industrially produced films several times. Why do the stars return? This affects the largest part of the budget at least during the shooting days. A few minutes on screen for delirious caches.

According to Los Angeles TimesFor the recent Salvage Salvation, Robert De Niro reportedly spent $11 million on an 8-day shoot (including post-production) and enjoyed such outlandish perks as a week in a luxury hotel paid for after filming and a private jet. 12 months to ship to the Caribbean on a date of his choosing with $100,000 available on site for his expenses.

EFO’s regular lineup includes 50 Cent (several of his movies are even based entirely on stories he wrote), Robert De Niro ( Elite Units , Bus 657 , and thus Savage Salvation ), and of course, Bruce Willis.

Willisploitation, 23 movies in three years

Their collaboration with Bruce Willis began in 2006 with 16 Blocks directed by Richard Donner, followed by Mike Gunter’s Braqueurs (2011). Between the two, Willis continues his career with talent, helming franchises like RED or Die Hard 4, or starring in other sagas like Expendables.

However, the actor doesn’t have a reputation for having an easy life on set and sometimes demands a lot of money (earning him an absence from The Expendables 3).

At the time, indeed, in addition to Looper, Willis seemed to make easy money in Die Hard 5, GI Joe Conspiracy and Sin City 2, Emmett-Furla directed such as No Compromise, Stephen Frears’ Lady Vegas, then Fire with Fire – Revenge. with fire. His reputation tarnished by these mediocre films will mostly only get him to turn it around. Here is his film score for the firm from 2015:

• 2015: 3
• 2016: 2
• 2017: 1
• 2018: 2
• 2019: 2
• 2020: 2
• 2021: 4
• 2022: 3

For example, the details of Willis’ open source contract signed in 2020 mean that he will be paid $1.5 million for a 4-day shoot (including post-production), with the benefit of wardrobe and personal makeup. Artist, exclusive assistant and promises to have a first class dressing room with a variety of services.

Emmett/Furla’s contract calls for a person to be hired to whisper his lines for him into an earpiece, to be paid $4,150 a week, plus $830 for each additional day. It is written that this prompter should also have a speaking role in the film and will stay at the Willis Hotel with $75 a day to spend there.

To be fair, Bruce Willis has also filmed a lot for another DTV firm, 308 Ent, which has put him in the credits of eight movies between 2020 and 2022, each one more forgettable than the next (White Elephant, for example). These pieces are hard to distinguish in form from Emmett / Furla, only a careful look at the logo at the beginning of the credits can tell the difference.

If in the last years of his career, Bruce Willis organized so many tours and in fragmented performances, it is primarily due to the exacerbation of frontotemporal dementia, a degenerative disease (the actor is no more than 67 years old). We can then understand his desire to make films on the chain to pay for medical expenses and perhaps protect his family from need.

A sad end for the hero of The Crystal Trap, Army of the Twelve Monkeys, and The Fifth Element, struck down by illness when he was not yet 65 years old. Too ill to film, he is now officially retired.