Despite once being a huge fan of Bruce Willis’ works, the opportunity to work alongside the Die Hard star wasn’t too pleasant for director Kevin Smith. Although Smith had high expectations for his ambitious project, which comprised one of his favorite actors at its forefront, the end result wasn’t too engrossing for both the audience and the filmmaker.
Following the movie’s failure, which was just able to garner around $55 million from a budget of $30 million, the director didn’t hold back while blasting Willis for his unprofessionalism on the sets of Cop Out.
Kevin Smith blasted Bruce Willis for his unprofessionalism on Cop Out
While reflecting on the making of Cop Out during his time on Marc Maron’s podcast, Kevin Smith opened up about the difficulties he endured while working with the Die Hard star. Kevin Smith blasted Bruce Willis for his alleged unprofessionalism and claimed that it was one of his worst working experiences, as Willis even refused to sit for promotional photos for the film. The director even went as far as to say that if it wasn’t for Willis’ costar Tracy Morgan, it would have been impossible to finish the project. He said,
“‘It was difficult. I’ve never been involved in a situation like that where one component is not in the box at all. It was f*****g soul-crushing. I mean, a lot of people are gonna be like, ‘Oh, you’re just trying to blame the movie on him.”
While speaking about Tracy Morgan’s contribution to the film, he stated,
“He’s a f*****g dream. Tracy Morgan, I would lay down in traffic for. Were it not for Tracy, I might’ve killed myself or someone else in the making of that movie.’
However, following Bruce Willis’ retirement from the realm of acting due to being diagnosed with aphasia, the Cop Out director came forward to apologize for publicly bashing the actor.
Kevin Smith regrets slamming Bruce Willis for Cop Out
Despite not having a great experience while working with his idol and expressing his distaste for Bruce Willis‘ demeanor on the sets, Kevin Smith did come forward to share his apologies. Following the actor’s retirement from acting, the director expressed that he felt “like an a**hole” for publicly shaming Willis, as he went on to state,
“Long before any of the ‘Cop Out’ stuff, I was a big Bruce Willis fan, so this is really heartbreaking to read. He loved to act and sing and the loss of that has to be devastating for him. I feel like an a**hole for my petty complaints from 2010. So sorry to [Bruce Willis] and his family.”
However, this isn’t the only time when someone has come forward to share their distaste with Willis, as Sylvester Stallone once slammed the actor for his unprofessionalism before making amends to him.
Cop Out is available to stream on Apple TV.
Source: Filmdrunk
