‘Don’t worry about the money’: Bruce Willis gave up 99% of his salary to work with the Hollywood legend

With The Crystal Trap in 1988, Bruce Willis became one of Hollywood’s biggest action stars almost overnight. But if you look at his filmography, you’ll see that the actor, now 69, hasn’t played it safe since playing John McClane in John McTiernan’s hit film.

You’d think that after taking this step in his career, he’d mostly continue down this path with more muscular roles, but Bruce Willis He just chose the projects he wanted: the first three films he made Crystal Trap There was a drama hero, like many others, in which he plays a Vietnam war veteran who, broken by this war, never knew how to find his place in society, the black comedy The Bonfire of the Vanities and a comedy franchise. Hello Mom Here Baby, in which she voiced the legendary baby!

And even after his continued superstar status Crystal Trap58 Minutes to Live (1990), then The Last Samaritan (1991), the actor took on even smaller and risky projects that rarely brought him much money. We do know that he only got $800,000 for Pulp Fiction — and of course a share of the profits, which was clearly worth it for a cult film of this caliber.

But the requested amount Bruce Willis The 1994 Robert Benton drama Almost Perfect Man was still significantly lower. However, the future star of “The Sixth Sense” (1999) agreed to take a pay cut because he wanted to work with Hollywood legend Paul Newman at all costs – and the tragicomedy finally offered him this chance.

Willis previously directed the 1991 gangster drama Billy Bathgate. Robert Bentonwhich was a box office failure but remains one of his favorite films.

as told Robert Benton In the Los Angeles Times, he contacted the actor himself before the film’s debut and explained the state of affairs: “I called Bruce and said, “It’s not like Billy Bathgate, there’s no money for it.” I said, ‘We’re all going to make this movie on the lowest possible budget.’“Willis’ answer? “He said, ‘Don’t worry about it. We’ll have a good time.’“

Mankind’s future savior from Armageddon (1998) averaged $15 million per film at the time, while Benton only had $20 million for the entire project. So Willis agreed to work for $1,400 a week, which was the actors’ union minimum wage at the time – and about 1% of his regular salary!

Willis and Newman had traveled together before – unbeknownst to Newman

In An almost perfect man, Bruce Willis plays construction contractor Carl Roebuck, who regularly clashes with his co-worker Sally, who he plays Paul Newman. In the eyes of many critics, the chemistry between two great actors from different generations played an important role in the appeal of the comedy, which was nominated for an Oscar for its screenplay and earned an estimated $39 million at the box office.

Plus, the two stars have already appeared in a movie together, and Newman has absolutely no memory of it! The latter was indeed very surprised when one day his young colleague appeared with a video cassette of Sidney Lumet’s legal drama The Verdict (1982) and showed a scene in which he could appear as an extra (uncredited) in the background. , as you can see below – alongside, among others, Tobin Bell, best known for his role as John Kramer, aka Jigsaw, in the Saw franchise.

A few years later, in an interview with Playboy, Bruce Willis He couldn’t help but be angry about meeting her Paul NewmanHe died in 2008.

“He is incredible. He is 70 years old and still tries new things every time he goes. A guy like him wouldn’t have to, he could show up and be a star. But he wasn’t like that for a moment. We spent a lot of time laughing at each other. It was a boy thing, trying to bust each other’s balls. It was crazy stuff. That’s how it happened.“

To rediscover Almost Perfect Man, you’ll have to look to potential DVD releases.