Bruce Willis branded ‘greedy’ by action star after ‘salary demand’

Tonight, at 10:05pm on Channel 5, Bruce Willis stars in the exceptional M Night Shyamalan supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense. He is best known for the Die Hard series, however, and his status as a 1980s action star inevitably teamed him up with a collection of macho men in The Expendables series. But soon thereafter, he got into a brutal row with Rocky star Sylvester Stallone over money.

Willis made a last-minute arrival in Stallone’s 2010 movie The Expendables. The film franchise showed off the biggest action stars of all time taking on world threats, and Willis’ cameo stinger teased what was coming next.

The Expendables 2 hit cinemas just two years later in 2012, with Willis firmly in the movie alongside the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chuck Norris.

However, when talks turned to The Expendables 3, Willis had some terms about his money.

The Hollywood Reporter at the time claimed Willis was looking for a $4 million wage for just four days work.

The publication said: “A source with knowledge of the situation says the fallout was over a specific money demand. Willis was offered $3 million for four days of consecutive work on location in Bulgaria for the film.”

Willis reportedly said he would “drop out” of the movie unless he got $4 million for the work.

It’s easy to see why Willis would make such a demand. The first Expendables movie made a staggering $275 million at the box office, and its sequel went even bigger.

Willis was more involved in The Expendables 2, which went on to make an unbelievable $315 million at the box office.

With the third movie on the way, it’s no doubt he wanted to get properly paid for his work. But Stallone, who was a screenwriter and executive producer for the franchise, was not having it.

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Stallone wrote on the social media side: “WILLIS OUT… HARRISON FORD IN!!!! GREAT NEWS!!!!! Been waiting years for this!!!!” (sic)

He then followed up by saying: “GREEDY AND LAZY… A SURE FORMULA FOR CAREER FAILURE.”

It seems as if their feud didn’t last forever, though. A few years later, in 2014, Stallone commented on his disagreement with Willis and confirmed that it was all blown out of proportion.

Stallone said of Willis: “It sounded like it got personal and I’m sorry it did sound that way. But it was actors talking and things move on. I think Bruce Willis is a great guy and he does fantastically entertaining films and when he nails it he nails it big time.”

He also gave a personal touch to the end of the feud with a tweet. He wrote to his 3 million followers: “Made up with BRUCE W. A stand up guy, my mistake…” (sic)

The Expendables 4 is due to hit cinemas in September 2023. It is not yet known if Willis is going to make a comeback to the series. But, considering he recently gave up acting due to his aphasia diagnosis, it is unlikely.

The Expendables is available to stream on Netflix now.

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