You don’t have the money, so you can’t spend it, so you’re not out the money if you never had it. Bruce, to his credit, asked me what I thought. I kept saying to Leon Brachman, “That’s the number.” He’d come back with three or two and a half. JACKIE BURCHCasting Director, Die Hard (1988)Īrnold said, “I’ll give you Bruce for $5 million,” which was unheard of because Bruce had no quote like that. That would be the justification if it didn’t work. I needed a number that would make him the highest paid actor for a minute in time.
A movie would come out and would sit in the theaters for three or four months. There wasn’t the platter of entertainment choices that there are now.
You could make a movie every year and a half or every two years and still be considered a vital star. GLENN GORDON CARONCreator, Moonlighting (1985–1989)Īlso it was a different movie culture back then. Are you going to be around for a while, or are you a one-hit wonder? The second film, that’s what’s remaining. You know, your first film, hit or not hit, you get a pass no matter what. He thought he’d be in television for the rest of his career. It’s true, right? Sears was then at its height of selling batteries.
First of all, it sounded like a battery for Sears. To think Fox was prescient in coming to Bruce? No. That had failed essentially because he came across unlikable, a pain in the ass. But, when you could really see him on a big screen with high resolution, you could see his eyes. On a little screen with low resolution, Bruce’s smart-aleck stuff was funny. KELLETT TIGHEExecutive Assistant, Lawrence Gordon Productions (1984–1990)īlind Date was funny, but it did horrible with critics.
That was what was sitting on my shoulders as an agent. He was terrified that he wouldn’t have a film career. Blake had gone to him behind my back after Blind Date and gave him a script, and Bruce embraced this movie, the story of Tom Mix. To a lot of people it was like, “Are you kidding me?”ĪRNOLD RIFKINCo-founding partner, Triad Artists (1984–1992)īruce was just in heaven shooting movies. The reaction? “This guy’s no hero.” Right? In desperation, they went to Bruce Willis. We’ve had Commando, Predator, and in the wake of all of these, the hero, they said, was like a pussy. They went to Burt Reynolds, and all of these people rejected it because, remember, this is 1987. They went to Richard Gere-turned it down. But they were becoming the A-pictures, and they were the ones that were starting to make all the money. Action films were what B-stars did, not A-stars. It was a sort of Ian Fleming hero, the gentleman man of action.īEAU MARKSProduction Manager, Die Hard (1988)Īll those folks were too good to make an action film. He’s wearing a sport jacket, and he’s very suave and sophisticated and all that stuff. When I first started working on it, they were talking about Richard Gere. Larry did not want a star dictating the choice of his director, which he felt was the producer’s prerogative… I was present for some of the casting meetings, and as I remember the part was offered to Al Pacino and Richard Gere. It keeps too many competing power centers from coming in… Once the director was in place, the star roles would only then be offered to actors. Larry really had a studio system approach where you get the script ready to go, you get the green light on the movie, you hire the director, and then you cast it. DAN MAZURScript Analyst, Lawrence Gordon Productions (1986–1988)Director of Creative Affairs, Lawrence Gordon Productions (1988–1989)Vice President of Creative Affairs, Largo Productions (1989–1991)