What’s a million dollars between friends (or colleagues)? Apparently, a lot. As you might remember, the cinematic world did a collective HUH? when it was announced earlier this week that Harrison Ford was stepping into “The Expendables 3,” while Bruce Willis was exiting. But the news was made all the more fascinating when in a tweet, Stallone called John McClane “greedy” and “lazy.” Now it seems the story behind that animosity has surfaced.
According to THR, it all came down to dollars and cents. Apparently, Stallone had offered Willis $3 million for four days work in Bulgaria on the movie, and the latter countered with a demand for $4 million. Then all hell broke loose it seems. Why asking for what amounts to an extra $250,000/day was the straw that broke the camels back is a bit of mystery… After all, Kellan Lutz can’t cost too much can he? Also, given that the budget for “The Expendables 2” was $100 million, it’s not like this is penny-pinching endeavour.
Either way, Stallone comes off as a bit of a short fuse and Willis probably dodged a bullet by not being in this movie anyway. A source talking to the trade claims that Willis was “surprised” by being dumped and the sequel wound up getting “a better actor, a much nicer person and a more interesting direction for the film.” Nicer? Clearly this person has not met the infamous curmudgeon that is Ford. But then again, Willis hasn’t exactly been a ball of laughs recently either…