Broadway Brawler

Broadway Brawler
Directed by	Lee Grant Dennis Dugan
Written by	Juliet Aires Keith Giglio
Produced by	Bruce Willis Joseph Feury
Starring	Bruce Willis Maura Tierney
Cinematography	William A. Fraker
Production company	Cinergi Pictures
Distributed by	The Walt Disney Company
Release date	1997 (intended)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$28 million

Broadway Brawler is an unfinished romantic comedy film that was to star Bruce Willis and Maura Tierney and be directed by Lee Grant. It was produced by Willis and Joseph Feury for Cinergi Pictures, ^[1] and was to have been distributed by The Walt Disney Company in 1997. ^[2]

Other cast members included Daniel Baldwin (as "Matt"), Alex Boyd (as a flashback, younger version of "Matt"), ^[3] Jenifer Lewis, and Casey Moses Wurzbach, though it is unclear how much, if any, of their scenes were shot at the time the production folded. ^[4]

The film was to be entirely shot in Feury's home town of Wilmington, Delaware. ^[2] 20 days into shooting, Willis, unhappy with the work of some of the crew, fired multiple people, leading Disney to shut production down. Instead of suing him, the studio cut a deal with Willis to work on three films for a discounted rate; Armageddon (1998), The Sixth Sense (1999), and The Kid (2000).

Premise

Eddie Kapinsky (Bruce Willis), a has-been retired professional ice hockey player, starts up a relationship with a character played by Maura Tierney. The film was ostensibly to have been a sporty comedy in the same vein as the previous year's Jerry Maguire . ^[1]

Production

After approximately two years of pre-production ^[2] as well as 20 days of principal photography, the production was halted owing to the acrimonious environment on set. Willis was dissatisfied with the performance of multiple members of the crew, including cinematographer William A. Fraker, wardrobe designer Carol Oditz, director Lee Grant, and Willis's co-producer (and Grant's husband) Joe Feury, all of whom were terminated along with several other members of cast and crew. ^{[1] [5] [6]}

As more than half of the film's $28 million budget had already been spent, Willis brought on director Dennis Dugan to try to carry on. However production folded before Dugan would be able to shoot any scenes. The agents of the other actors publicly expressed a belief that these actors would be paid in full, regardless of the folding of production; they later were reported to have reached an amicable settlement. ^[4]

It is extremely unusual for such a large-budget production to simply end without a finished product. ^[1]

Aftermath

The implosion of the production was largely attributed to Willis's actions and behavior, leaving him in a difficult position with The Walt Disney Company, Cinergi's parent company for whom the film was being shot. ^[1] Willis was facing a $17.5 million lawsuit. ^[7] To offset this loss to the company, William Morris Agency president Arnold Rifkin brokered a deal for their client with Disney producer Joe Roth, who convinced Willis to take a three-picture deal with Disney, at a greatly reduced salary, which Willis agreed to. ^[8] The first film of this agreement was Armageddon , for which Willis received $3 million, a significant pay cut from his normal asking price of $20 million. The difference would cover the money lost on Broadway Brawler. ^{[2] [9]}

After this, Willis starred in The Sixth Sense and Disney's The Kid , thus closing out the remainder of the deal. ^[10] These three movies together grossed $1.3 billion worldwide. ^[7]

References

1. Brennan, Judy (1997-03-13). "The Fight Over 'Broadway Brawler'". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2021-09-27.
2. Archerd, Army (1997-03-12). "'Brawler' officially down for the count". Variety . Retrieved 2021-09-28.
3. "Stars Come Out to Support Star Paws Rescue Celebrity Art Benefit". PRWeb . 2006-06-28. Retrieved 2021-09-28.
4. Archerd, Army (1997-03-05). "Lawyers get into the 'Broadway' brawl". Variety . Retrieved 2021-09-28.
5. Smukler, Maya Montañez (2018). Liberating Hollywood: Women Directors and the Feminist Reform of 1970s American Cinema. Rutgers University Press. ISBN   978-0813587479 . Retrieved 2021-09-27. I have such an antipathy to star stuff," [director Grant] explained, "He was taking his jet out every weekend to fuck somebody ... and something in me turned off.
6. Smukler, Maya Montañez (2014). Working Girls: The History of Women Directors in 1970s Hollywood (Thesis). University of California, Los Angeles. A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements of the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Film and Television
7. Fleming, Mike Jr. (2010-10-05). "Bruce Willis In Drama Deal For Pal Joe Roth". Deadline. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
8. Bart, Peter (2000). The Gross: The Hits, the Flops-- the Summer that Ate Hollywood. St. Martin's Press. pp. 85–90. ISBN   9780312253912 . Retrieved 2021-09-27.
9. Grant, Lee (2015). I Said Yes to Everything: A Memoir. Penguin Group. p. 408. ISBN   9780147516282 . Retrieved 2021-09-27.
10. Brew, Simon (2020-02-24). "The three films that Bruce Willis was cornered into having to make". Film Stories. Retrieved 2021-09-27. After looking at the available footage, and with around $15m of the budget reportedly already spent, the decision was made to abandon the film. A very rare move for a big movie star production that was already three weeks into production.