Why Antoine Fuqua Didn’t Like Working With Bruce Willis on Tears Of The Sun

It would seem vitally important that directors and actors at least respect each other while making a film, but Hollywood history is littered with cases where this simply did not happen. One of the most famous disagreements almost turned fatal when Werner Herzog threatened to shoot (with a gun) the notoriously erratic star Klaus Kinski while he was filming “Aguirre, The Wrath of God.” No guns were brandished on the set of “Hook,” but Steven Spielberg didn’t enjoy his time collaborating with Julia Roberts (they haven’t worked together since). And then there’s David O. Russell, who fought and/or terrorized stars like Amy Adams, Lily Tomlin and George Clooney; If there’s any justice, O. Russell, a once-formidable talent who hasn’t made a watchable movie since 2010’s “The Fighter,” won’t be allowed back behind the camera until he learns to behave like a decent human being.

An actor who had a reputation for clashing with his directors is Bruce Willis. The sadly retired actor (who was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2023) had a terrible time filming the horrible “Cop Out” with Kevin Smith and was so displeased with Lee Grant’s direction in “Broadway Brawler” that the Disney studio shut down the entire production slowed (forcing Willis to make a movie called “The Sixth Sense”).

Willis also clashed with director Antoine Fuqua while making the 2003 war film “Tears of the Sun,” set in Nigeria. This was Fuqua’s first film since the commercial and critical triumph of “Training Day,” which earned Denzel Washington his first Best Actor Oscar, so the timing of Willis’ discontent was a bit surprising. Fuqua was one of the most popular directors in town and this was supposed to be a prestige action movie. What could have gone wrong?

In a 2004 interview with the BBC Coinciding with the release of Fuqua’s “King Arthur” (not to be confused with Guy Ritchie’s “Kind Arthur: Legend of the Sword”), the filmmaker spoke about his controversial experience with Willis on the set of “Tears of the Sun.” . When asked which actor was the “biggest headache” he had ever worked with, Fuqua responded:

“Bruce Willis. My butt hurts, there’s no problem with that. We just didn’t get along. We got along well off camera, but filming (‘Tears Of The Sun’) we just didn’t get along. Some men don’t.” We don’t fit together when it comes to work: you have different work ethics, different opinions, different points of view, different methods of filmmaking, and we didn’t see eye to eye off camera, we were friends; Bruce is great, but we just don’t do it. get along at work and that’s it.”

For his part, Willis had the right to be hostile. While filming the film, he was knocked unconscious when a projectile from a simulated explosion hit him in the head. He subsequently sued Revolution Studios for damages. Fuqua has continued to emphasize that his off-camera relationship with Willis was friendly, although he has hinted that lost a power struggle with the star during the final cut of the film.