How Bruce Willis' 'Die Hard' salary changed the life of every single Hollywood star
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: It has been 35 years since the 1988 release of one of the greatest action movies of all time, ‘Die Hard'. It did not just change the way action movies were made in Hollywood but also made Bruce Willis, a relatively fresh face then, a huge star. He was offered $5 million to play the lead, a shocking remuneration at that time.
The 1988 film became the first installment in a franchise and was followed by ‘Die Hard 2’ in 1990. Willis got paid $7.5 million for the second part, $15 million for the third, and $25 million for the fourth.
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Salary that threw Hollywood 'out of whack'
The 'Die Hard' franchise not only made Willis filthy rich but also changed the life of every single Hollywood star. According to a 1988 article via The New York Times, Willis reportedly set a precedent in the hierarchy of Hollywood.
Alan Ladd Jr, chairman of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, a division of the MGM/UA Communications Company, said at the time, “This throws the business out of whack. Like everybody else in town, I was stunned.” It instantly led to demands for a pay rise for other actors as Willis, who had just starred in the tv series 'Moonlighting' and was seen in one film, 'Blind Date', which was placed 31st in the list of successful movies of 1987, was paid $5 million. The question was if Willis was being paid so much, what would the $3 million stars - who had already made a mark at the box office, like Tom Cruise and Michael J Fox - be paid for their next movies.
Bert Fields, one of Hollywood's top entertainment lawyers, said, ''I'm not saying that my clients are entitled to 150 percent of what is being paid to Bruce Willis, but if one hears that some other actor is getting a million dollars more than he was before, it's only fair to try to get more from the studio for my clients." Meanwhile, Ladd said, "We haven't gone after a big star in the last month. But if we try to make a deal with Tom Selleck, for example, after 'Three Men and a Baby', is he going to say, 'I've just been in a big successful picture so I want $6 million'?'' John Gaines, an agent whose clients included Steve Martin, said, ''Sometimes actors can outprice themselves. You can lose that special script because a producer can't afford to pay. If you can get it and someone wants to pay it, go ahead.''
'Willis was worth every penny'
Commenting on Willis' offer, Larry Gordon, the co-producer of 'Die Hard', explained in another 1988 report by The New York Times, ''In this crazy world we live in, [Willis] was worth the money, every penny. For the project to work, you have to feel that the character might not make it, and [Willis] is more Everyman than most of your major stars. But audiences were taken by surprise because when you sell action you sell certain stars, and interest wasn't as high as it might have been for Sly Stallone or Clint Eastwood.''