The Good, the Bad and the Ego

Easton rightly focused on large-budget flops like “Hudson Hawk.”

Bruce Willis’ quote to Premiere magazine was especially telling: “We wanted to shoot every possible funny option we could economically, and go back later in the editing.” Economically?

Recalling Willis’ infamous statements, quoted in The Times, about the so-called huge costs added to productions by union film crews, I found this to be more than infuriating. I grew up in this business and am a 20-year member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes. I wonder if Willis knows that a union crew accounts for less than 15% of a production’s costs.

Films are not extemporized happenings. As Steven Bach said in his book “Final Cut”: “Perfection implies discipline, and there can be no art without it.” Bach signed away United Artists by not stopping “Heaven’s Gate.” What will Willis be allowed to get away with before he is brought to a halt?

BARBARA WHITAKER

Los Angeles