WEBVTT - Episode 2: Welcome to the Party, Pal 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:15.239 This is an I Heart original. It's Memorial Day weekend. 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:19.600 Seven people all over the country are having big celebrations, 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:23.360 but few are having as big or as loud as 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:29.920 celebration as Bruce Willis. The actor who was experiencing both 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:33.960 newfound fame and newfound wealth after years of trying to 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:38.000 break into the entertainment business, is enjoying the fruits of 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:42.440 his labor. He's making fifty thousand dollars a week on 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:47.640 the hit ABC series Moonlighting. There are TV commercials and movies, 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:50.559 and a script for an action film that's going to 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:54.440 change his life. His house in the Hollywood Hills is 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:59.080 packed to the rafters with friends. His expensive stereo system 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:02.000 is cranked up and playing a bunch of different albums, 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:06.280 including classics from the likes of Diana Ross. It's also 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:10.440 playing tracks from a new Motown Records release titled The 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:16.240 Return of Bruno. The album's most memorable single was under 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:21.200 the Boardwalk, a cover song featuring Bruno's tenor voice layered 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:34.280 over the deep bass of his backing Bandwalk When the Sun. 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:43.479 Bruno is Willis's musical alter ego, sort of the way 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:47.440 David Bowie went by Ziggy Stardust or Garth Brooks went 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:51.800 by Chris Gaines. Willis has toured as Bruno, played live 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:56.000 dates as Bruno. When he's Bruno, he somehow possesses even 0:01:56.040 --> 0:02:01.000 more swagger than usual. He's uninhibited, and now that he's 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:05.400 got a record, he's going to play it. Hey, it's 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:09.080 a holiday weekend. There's nothing wrong with Bruce Willis playing 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:12.960 his own album at his own house, except it's loud. 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:19.520 Allegedly really loud. That's what Willis's neighbors tell the police 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:25.480 when they phone in a noise complaint, and so at 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.799 some point in the evening, Bruce Willis is greeted by 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:32.000 patrol officers who have come to ask him to turn 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:36.680 down the music, to turn down the brunow and appease 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:41.800 his neighbors. But Bruce Willis is not what law enforcement 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:46.440 would describe as cooperative. According to the police report, he 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:50.239 doesn't agree to turn down the music. Instead, he tells 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:53.399 the cops that they aren't invited, they don't have a warrant, 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:58.160 and to get the out of his house. The cops 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:04.440 do not comply. There is more yelling, posturing. Willis's friends 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:13.040 get involved, and then things escalate. What happens next can 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:19.359 best be described as better. More cops show up, allegedly, 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:26.840 so do police helicopters. Willis is handcuffed, arrested, and the party, 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:32.120 at least for the moment, is open. There will be 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:36.600 a number of changes in Bruce Willis's life following this altercation. 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:40.560 The most important is that he'll soon decide life in 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:45.400 the Hollywood Hills. Life in Hollywood might not be for him. 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:50.480 Neither is fame. The arrest makes the tabloids, so does 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:55.040 his new relationship with actress Dummy Moore. Bruce Willis just 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:58.000 wants to be free, to make his music blast, his 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:01.920 music unwind, and to live his life without being put 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:06.120 under a microscope or in the back of a police car. 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:12.000 He was becoming too famous for comfort. And the worst part, 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:17.719 die Hard hadn't even come out yet. For I Heart Radio, 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:23.320 This is Haleywood and I Heart original podcast, I'm your 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:27.640 host Danis Schwartz, and this is episode two, Welcome to 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:35.719 the Party pal. At the beginning of the nine eighties, 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:40.480 Bruce Willis wasn't yet Bruce Willis home wasn't the Hollywood 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:43.720 Hills but a fifth floor walk up in Hell's Kitchen. 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:46.760 He was a struggling actor who had come out of 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:54.000 the working class town of Penn's Grove, New Jersey. While 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:57.440 he was going to auditions, Willis supported himself like most 0:04:57.440 --> 0:05:01.279 actors do in the service industry. He worked as a 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:05.440 bartender at Cafe Central, a hip New York City hang 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:10.600 out at the corner of Street and Amsterdam Avenue. For Willis, 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:13.560 it was an opportunity to catch some of New York's 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:18.919 most renowned actors off the clock. Al Pacino, Robert de Niro, 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:22.960 and Danny A. Yello were regulars. So was John Goodman, 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:27.520 who became a close friend of Willis's. But in some respects, 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:31.359 the real attraction of Cafe Central wasn't the opportunity to 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:35.839 catch Pacino or de Niro. It was Willis who applied 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:40.440 his trade as a bartender by effortlessly charming everyone inside 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:47.920 in the bar. He was very cocky, very funny, kind 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:51.200 of allowed. You know, some more tenders want to lend 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:53.760 into the background, as some want to make an impression. 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:57.520 He sort of had even then, this thing that you 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:01.479 couldn't stop looking at him. That's Martha Frankel. You remember 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:04.720 Martha from her ill fated interview with Bruce Willis for 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:07.720 movie line The one where he forced a restaurant to 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:09.880 close so he wouldn't have to deal with the world 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:13.360 at large. But Martha also knew Willis long before then. 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:15.359 I mean, I was starting out as a writer and 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:19.200 a lot of my friends were upcoming actors. You watch, 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:22.880 you know, you see what's going on. She frequently stopped 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:26.760 into Cafe Central in the early nineteen eighties and witnessed 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:31.200 Willis in action, tossing around cocktail shakers and one liners, 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:36.400 a lot of gorgeous young actors and actresses filling those boots, 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:40.479 and Bruce isn't you know, he's not. It's not that 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.920 he's such a show stop or physically. When you see 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:48.120 somebody like a young Aidan Quinn, a young Puccino, a 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:53.919 young Robert Duvaal, maybe you wouldn't notice Bruce as much. 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:58.320 But he had a personality, and he had a big personality. 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:01.960 So when he started making a people remembered him. For 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:05.440 Martha and everyone else in Willis's orbit in those days, 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:09.480 they could tell there was something about this guy. He 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:13.840 was quick, witty, and confident. If you went to Cafe Central, 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:17.480 he stood out. I liked him as a bartender. This 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:21.720 was somebody who came up in New York and you 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:23.920 know how to work for it. He he was not 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:30.720 handed anything. At the time. Willis went by a nickname. Yeah, 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:34.360 I think they called him Bruno. Bruno was a perfect 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:37.360 name for a charismatic bartender in a New York bar, 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:43.400 a character among characters. I can only imagine that it 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:46.120 was like a roll to him, and he was good 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:50.920 at it. He could like keep five conversations going. Bruss 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:55.640 always remembered your name, he remembered your backstory, he remembered 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:58.680 your friends. And that's you know, you make a lot 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:01.560 of tips when you do that. But I don't think 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:07.480 it was what he was looking to do. You got 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:11.440 the sense, Bruce or Bruno was destined for bigger and 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:16.560 better things. But Willis didn't tend bar as some actors do, 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:19.960 for a few months or even a year. He did 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:23.960 it for at least six years, spending his nights watching 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:28.000 accomplished actors come and go while he auditioned during the day. 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:32.720 While bartending, he nabbed the Verdict and some other bit 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:38.000 and stage parts. The eighties war on. He eventually got 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:42.040 an agent, and that agent eventually sent him to audition 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:46.120 for a movie called Desperately Seeking Susan, which would go 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:49.760 on to star Madonna, but not co star Bruce Willis. 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:55.760 Then Willis landed an audition at ABC, where writer Glenn 0:08:55.840 --> 0:09:00.319 Gordon Karen was mounting an hour long comedy titled moon Lighting. 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:05.680 Karen's idea was to take the detective format, which had 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:10.640 been popular on television practically since television was invented, and 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:16.160 turn it into a rapid fire, screwball comedy. His leads, 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:20.040 private detectives David Addison and Mattie Hayes, would be a 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:24.360 combustible pair working cases for their Blue Moon Detective Agency 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:28.760 while trying to ignore their mutual attraction. The dialogue would 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:32.960 come fast and furious. The pace would be snappy. The 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:37.040 idea was ambitious. At the time, Network TV was home 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:41.240 to the A Team, Who's the Boss, and other formulaic hits. 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:46.040 Moonlighting would be a step away from the usual. Karen 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:50.400 found his Maddie in Sybil Shepherd, an actress best known 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:53.280 at the time for appearing in The Last Picture Show 0:09:53.360 --> 0:10:01.640 in and Taxi Driver in s But despite seeing hundreds 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:06.400 of actors, Karen hadn't yet found his David Addison. Addison 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:11.000 would have to be confident, brash, kind of cocky but 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:15.960 also funny and charming and gracious. Call it a Bruce 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:20.360 Willis type. The role he was already playing at Cafe Central. 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:23.520 I mean, he was so good at when lighting, and 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:28.800 you know, it's really like, wow, that guy is doing that. 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:30.680 He was funny, and he was sort of light on 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:34.840 his feet. There was something kind of shocking about how 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:39.319 great he was in that role. Just like that, Bruno's 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:42.800 bar attending days were over, and so were Willis's days 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:48.240 of blending into the background. It's a romantic comedy. Really 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:51.640 looking forward to working with you, kid. Boom Lighting premiering Sunday, 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:58.920 March three. Moonlighting premiered in March and was practically an 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:03.280 overnight hit. Critics and audiences fell in love with David 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:08.600 Addison and by extension, with Bruce Willis. Moonlighting didn't take 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:12.720 itself seriously. Sometimes Willis would turn directly to the camera 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:15.160 and break the fourth wall. You know, That's what I 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:17.000 like about this place. You learned something new every day. 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:20.080 But you get serious. I just had my hand on 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:21.760 your behind. If I get any more serious, we're gonna 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:25.199 moves to cable. A few shows. Few actors could get 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:28.480 away with something so brazen, but viewers were willing to 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:32.440 go with it. It scored multiple Emmy nominations, and by 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:36.360 season three rose as high as number nine in the ratings. 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:41.720 Moonlighting had a domino effect on Willis's career. During the 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:45.480 first season of Moonlighting, Willis was familiar to just seventeen 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:49.600 percent of the television viewing audience. Call it the oh 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:54.199 that guy factor. By the second season, his familiarity had 0:11:54.240 --> 0:12:01.600 shot up to fifty seven percent. One of the people 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:06.000 getting familiar with Willis was a man named Edgar Bronfman Jr. 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:10.439 Bronfman was high up on the chain of command of Seagrams, 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:13.680 the adult beverage company that was getting ready to launch 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:19.560 a new alcohol brand, Seagram's Golden Wine Cooler. Bronfman needed 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:24.720 a spokesman who was hip, recognizable to audiences, someone you'd 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.480 want to hang out and have a drink with, and 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:30.600 someone manly enough to make the idea of sipping wine 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:37.240 coolers palatable or sexy. Even Moonlighting money was good, Seagram's 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:43.080 money was better. After negotiating with Willis's agent, Arnold Ritkin, 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:48.040 Bronkman agreed to pay Willis between five and seven million 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:51.480 dollars for appearing in the Wine cooler ads over a 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:55.240 two to three year period. Willis was all too happy 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:59.200 to agree. He had, after all, plenty of experience selling 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:03.440 drinks for a lot less in tips. Oddly enough, it 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:07.679 was Cafe Central's old patron, Martha Frankel, who wound up 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:10.480 writing some of the spots for Ogilvie and Mather, the 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:14.000 ad agency behind the campaign. Those ads were a big 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:18.600 deal for a while. Oh my god, I forgot about them. 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:22.120 Oh you know, I think I wrote one of them. Yeah, 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:25.760 I think I did. I worked for that company. Oh 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:30.640 my god, I've got about that. Holy Moley. The ads 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:34.040 featured Willis hanging out with his friends, sipping sea grooms 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:38.599 and naturally playing the harmonica and the slogan this is 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:49.320 where the fund starts. Another spot featured a then unknown 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:53.840 Sharon Stone, and another ad centered around a fictional wedding 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:59.760 and Willis's somewhat unethical attempts to pick up the bride. 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:06.280 Didn't the toast serious golden to it sious, because that's 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:11.760 the toasts. A commercial willis is now patented blend of humor, sex, 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:16.280 appeal and charm was condensed into a perfect thirty seconds. 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:21.200 It was a very nineteen eighties idea of what culture 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:26.040 and advertisers believed men should look like and what they 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:30.240 should sound like. Bruce was in control of the room, 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:33.720 just like he'd been the m C of Cafe Central. 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:37.880 The women in the commercials may not have literally swooned, 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:42.480 but they all seemed charmed by Willis. By his boldness, 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:46.800 sales of Seagram's went up, and people took to calling 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:54.200 it somewhat disturbingly Bruce Juice. Bruce's Brunos harmonica was beginning 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:58.720 to appear in other places. The musical interludes in Moonlighting, 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:02.600 where Willis even played the harmonica and the pilot, attracted 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:07.320 the attention of Motown Records president Jay Lasker. He invited 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:10.760 Willis out to dinner and asked him a pointed question, 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:16.240 did Willis want to record an album? The result was 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:20.560 the Return of Bruno, a Motown Records album released in 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:25.680 early seven that featured Willis backed by The Heaters, a 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:31.720 band he had discovered in a North Hollywood bar. It 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:35.080 was accompanied by an HBO special that was part music, 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:40.120 part comedy, and featured Willis slipping into his harmonizing alter ego. 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:45.280 He even created a fictional backstory celebrities like Michael J. 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:48.640 Fox and Elton John appeared in the special to sing 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:52.360 Bruno's praises. It was kind of like this is spinal 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:57.520 tap for his character a mockumentary. Here's Ringo star delivering 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:01.080 his line deadpan. Well, if it being for Bruno, there 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:04.200 would have been no Beatles, and if not for Bruce, 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:09.840 there might not have been a Haleywood either. The thing was, 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:14.800 Bruce Willis hadn't exactly fantasized about being the face of 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:18.520 wine coolers or even the face of a television network. 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:24.880 Being seen, recognized, even hunted by photographers was not suited 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:28.880 to his temperament. Sure, he was a natural on stage, 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:31.960 but that didn't mean the spotlight always had to be 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:35.960 on him, did it. Glenn Gordon Karen, who had launched 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:39.160 Willis's career, once said he felt like he had to 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:43.440 apologize to Willis for the crime, the crime of making 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:48.360 him famous. That's how much Willis resisted being a familiar face, 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:51.720 and a hint that he would go to some lengths 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:55.240 to avoid it if he could. He can't go back 0:16:55.320 --> 0:17:12.920 to bartending, or maybe there's some way he can. Despite 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:16.320 his discomfort with his growing fame, a lot was going 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:20.440 right for Willis in. For one thing, he never got 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:23.800 charged for his run in with the cops, and for another, 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:28.880 he met Demi Moore. Moore had been working steadily, first 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:32.400 in the soap opera General Hospital, and then in Hollywood 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:35.600 in films like Saying Almost Fire and About Last Night. 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:40.840 Raised partly in small Pennsylvania towns Cannonsburg and Charleroy before 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:44.720 moving to California at age thirteen. She had a maturity 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:48.159 on screen that seemed counter to her age. She was 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:55.560 in her mid twenties. According to Moore's memoir Inside Out, 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:59.159 she had just split from actor Emilio Estevez when she 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:02.920 ran into will Us at a party. He was behind 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:08.440 the bar, shaking out cocktails just for fun. He was well. 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:13.560 He was Bruce Willis, charming and at least in this case, deferential. 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:17.840 The more said at that point she hadn't seen Moonlighting, 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:24.360 only his Seagram's commercials. Apparently Seagram's was where the funds started. 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:28.480 He asked for a number, walked her to her car, 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:35.840 and the two began dating. In November, they decided to 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:41.120 get married. The two became one of Hollywood's power couples, 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:45.560 doubly famous, but there was comfort in the fact that 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:49.000 they each knew the other didn't want status or money, 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:52.560 because each of them already had plenty of both. They 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:55.960 also had something else in common. They were from small towns. 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:59.560 Neither one had been raised, like Estevez, in a show 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:03.720 biz family, and when talk turned to wanting to raise children, 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:06.800 the idea of doing it among the artificial veneer of 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:12.960 Hollywood seemed counterintuitive. Willis said as much in interview with 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:16.359 The New York Times, where he described his dislike of 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:20.800 Los Angeles. I don't live in l A because it's 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:23.280 a pretty weird town, and I don't want to raise 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:36.240 my kids here, he said. But if not California, then 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:40.440 where where could Bruce Willis and Demi Moore retreat to 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:43.840 that would allow them to escape what was becoming an 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:49.639 increasing burden of being known. They soon got their answer, 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:53.639 It just took Willis breaking a bone to realize it. 0:19:56.800 --> 0:20:00.920 In March seven, just two months before or Willis would 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:03.520 be shoved into a police car in the Hollywood Hills, 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:08.000 Willis went on vacation in Sun Valley, the posh ski 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:11.960 resort in the Wood River Valley area of Idaho. Thanks 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:15.760 to moonlighting, Willis was now in an exclusive club that 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:19.800 gathered in the area, the club that welcomed successful people 0:20:19.960 --> 0:20:25.040 to fraternize in exclusive vacation spots. He tackled Sun Valley's 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:29.240 ski slope with real zeal And on his first trip 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:33.399 down that day, cruising over the immaculate white powder, he 0:20:33.600 --> 0:20:40.879 fell and broke his collar bone. While Willis was recovering 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:44.600 hanging out with little else to do, he was properly 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:49.160 introduced to Wood River Valley to catch him the bustling 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:53.359 and expensive town where Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks puttered around, 0:20:53.920 --> 0:21:02.280 and to a town about fifteen miles down the road, Haley, Idaho. Well, 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:08.240 the north part around Catchem and Sun Valley. Um, those 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:12.040 are the two uh urban I'll put that in quotes. 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:14.680 Neither one are big enough to be urban, but they 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:18.320 are large because of the tourist industry. And then about 0:21:18.359 --> 0:21:21.160 eleven miles south of that is where Haley is located. 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:26.359 That's Tom Blanchard, a one time county commissioner and Haley historian. 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:29.880 And as you move from north to south, you move 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:33.399 from greater wealth to lesser wealth. And so the valley 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:37.440 is structured in tiers in terms of its proximity to 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:41.560 the Sun Valley destination resort, both in terms of wealth 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:45.720 and class amenities, you know, other things that make a 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:50.280 community function and viable. The further you get from the resort, 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:55.840 the more modest your surroundings. Hailey was and is bordered 0:21:55.880 --> 0:21:59.240 by a lot of public land nestled near the Big 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:04.240 Wood River. A simpler life echoed through its modest streets, 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:08.400 where lumber yards once sold groceries, and some small buildings 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:15.280 were erected from mail order kits. During Willis's accidental Hollywood hiatus, 0:22:15.640 --> 0:22:19.800 he probably drove past the Haley Public Library, the J. J. 0:22:20.000 --> 0:22:24.200 Tracy drug store, and the J. C. Fox Building, where 0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:27.920 a beloved town doctor once made house calls on a snowmobile. 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:32.600 The Liberty Theater movie house, originally the site of an 0:22:32.640 --> 0:22:37.280 ice skating rink. Freedman Memorial Airport, helped shuttle the nearby 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:41.480 movie stars to and from their ski retreats. It was 0:22:41.640 --> 0:22:49.240 love at first sight ready in Willis quietly purchased a 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:52.560 twenty acre property on the edge of Haley, in a 0:22:52.640 --> 0:22:57.840 housing development known as Flying Heart Ranch. He officially became 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:04.359 a resident of Haley. Willis and more were serious about 0:23:04.440 --> 0:23:09.879 small town ambitions. Hailey seemed custom made for them, especially 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:14.600 for someone with a family. The community was known to 0:23:14.720 --> 0:23:17.399 have a very good school system, so that was an 0:23:17.400 --> 0:23:21.280 attractive thing right from the goal. At the time they 0:23:21.359 --> 0:23:24.560 moved there, Hailey was home to over three thousand residents, 0:23:25.560 --> 0:23:28.080 but at least for a little while, the fact that 0:23:28.200 --> 0:23:31.960 Willis was a new resident seemed to escape notice. Why 0:23:32.320 --> 0:23:36.680 you know, I'm not even sure when he came here. 0:23:36.760 --> 0:23:39.760 I didn't know somehow, remember being in the late eighties, 0:23:39.880 --> 0:23:44.280 but probably you know, I'd have to have to say 0:23:44.359 --> 0:23:49.080 some time in the early nineties nineties, when he started 0:23:49.119 --> 0:23:54.639 actually buying some Hailey property. It's probably my first awareness 0:23:54.720 --> 0:23:59.040 of it. But there was no parade, no newspaper notice, 0:23:59.200 --> 0:24:03.200 no grand proclamation that the two had arrived. If there 0:24:03.240 --> 0:24:06.240 had been, it probably would have driven Willis right back 0:24:06.280 --> 0:24:09.679 out of town. What he wanted was to be unseen, 0:24:10.560 --> 0:24:13.399 at least that's what he said he wanted, you know, 0:24:13.680 --> 0:24:16.040 the whole thing about he doesn't want to be recognized. 0:24:16.600 --> 0:24:18.480 I've been through it Spike Lee a bunch of times, 0:24:18.560 --> 0:24:20.440 and he says, you know, you pull down your baseball cap, 0:24:20.520 --> 0:24:22.560 you get on the subway, nobody knows who you are. 0:24:23.240 --> 0:24:25.800 I've been around de Niro, I've been around people who 0:24:25.800 --> 0:24:30.639 are very famous, and they can blend in. Bruce wanted 0:24:30.680 --> 0:24:34.680 to be noticed and left alone. I don't think that's 0:24:34.800 --> 0:24:40.119 possible to be noticed and be left alone, a paradox 0:24:40.280 --> 0:24:42.760 that would shape Bruce for the rest of his career. 0:24:46.119 --> 0:24:49.320 After Willis moved in, he approached his neighbor, a local 0:24:49.400 --> 0:24:54.000 lawyer named Ed Lawson. See Willis didn't really want a neighbor, 0:24:54.400 --> 0:24:58.760 any neighbors really. Lawson didn't even live on the lot. 0:24:59.320 --> 0:25:02.280 But if WILLI spot Lawson's lot, it would be a 0:25:02.440 --> 0:25:05.240 kind of buffer zone to keep out the prying eyes 0:25:05.320 --> 0:25:09.560 of the media. Lawson may or may not have hesitated, 0:25:10.080 --> 0:25:13.439 but this was the lesson of success. If Bruce Willis 0:25:13.480 --> 0:25:17.119 wants something, he can afford to be persistent. Lawson never 0:25:17.240 --> 0:25:20.320 confirmed the story, but the rumor in Haley was that 0:25:20.520 --> 0:25:23.400 laws and sold the lot to Willis and made two 0:25:23.600 --> 0:25:27.359 hundred thousand dollars in profit for Willis. There was no 0:25:27.560 --> 0:25:34.080 such thing as too high a price on privacy. Lawson 0:25:34.240 --> 0:25:38.000 actually did business with Willis again. Lawson and his wife 0:25:38.080 --> 0:25:42.040 Julie owned what was known as Freedman Mansion just off 0:25:42.119 --> 0:25:45.680 of Main Street in town. It was a grand, old 0:25:45.800 --> 0:25:49.200 place which once belonged to the Freedman family, who had 0:25:49.240 --> 0:25:57.000 helped shape Haley decades prior. Again, Willis approached Lawson and 0:25:57.280 --> 0:26:01.000 made him an offer he couldn't refuse, and he didn't. 0:26:02.280 --> 0:26:05.879 The mansion wasn't really for Bruce, though, it was for Demi. 0:26:06.840 --> 0:26:11.800 Before long, the mansion had over two thousand occupants, all 0:26:11.880 --> 0:26:17.119 of them were Moore's porcelain dolls. Willis had bought her 0:26:17.359 --> 0:26:23.840 a dollhouse, a really fancy dollhouse. This may have been 0:26:23.960 --> 0:26:26.639 the first sign that things in Haley we're going to 0:26:26.720 --> 0:26:32.520 start looking and feeling a little different. What Bruce Willis wants, 0:26:32.920 --> 0:26:37.760 Lawson said, Bruce Willis gets, and that would be especially 0:26:37.840 --> 0:26:41.880 true when John McClain would send Willis into new levels 0:26:42.000 --> 0:26:45.920 of wealth and influence, with a desire to escape getting 0:26:46.040 --> 0:26:50.240 even stronger. The time was coming when Willis would have 0:26:50.320 --> 0:26:52.720 the means to do a lot more in Haley than 0:26:52.800 --> 0:27:05.440 buy a dollhouse. In nine eighty six, Willis was spending 0:27:05.520 --> 0:27:10.160 his evenings recording his album The Return of Bruno. During 0:27:10.240 --> 0:27:13.000 the day he was shooting a movie called Blind Date, 0:27:13.480 --> 0:27:16.920 his first leading role and the first time audiences would 0:27:16.920 --> 0:27:19.520 be tempted by the idea of seeing the star of 0:27:19.600 --> 0:27:23.200 moonlighting on the big screen. It turned out not to 0:27:23.280 --> 0:27:27.640 be a very compelling offer. Blind Date starred Willis as 0:27:27.760 --> 0:27:31.040 Walter Davis, a mild mannered man who gets set up 0:27:31.119 --> 0:27:34.439 with a woman named Nadia played by Kim Bay singer. 0:27:35.200 --> 0:27:39.440 Nadia seems shy too, until she starts drinking. At that point, 0:27:39.600 --> 0:27:43.159 the movie turns into a mad cap comedy, with Willis 0:27:43.359 --> 0:27:46.639 trying frantically to keep up with an escalating series of 0:27:46.720 --> 0:27:51.239 events caused by the perpetually intoxicated Nadia. There have been 0:27:51.320 --> 0:27:54.040 high hopes for the movie, which was directed by Blake 0:27:54.160 --> 0:27:58.159 Edwards of the Pink Panther fame. Madonna and her then 0:27:58.320 --> 0:28:02.359 husband Sean Penn had only been set to star. Try Star, 0:28:02.560 --> 0:28:05.639 which was making the movie, was so keen on getting 0:28:05.680 --> 0:28:08.800 Willis that they gave the movie a green light without 0:28:08.920 --> 0:28:13.960 a completed script. Blind Date actually didn't do too badly. 0:28:14.400 --> 0:28:19.159 It opened in March at number one, knocking Lethal Weapon 0:28:19.280 --> 0:28:22.199 off its perch, but it was a busy season at 0:28:22.240 --> 0:28:26.320 the movies, with films like Platoon dominating the conversation and 0:28:26.640 --> 0:28:30.520 guaranteed hits like Beverly Hill's Cop Two taking over the 0:28:30.600 --> 0:28:35.119 summer months. Blind Date did edge out Spaceballs, making around 0:28:35.200 --> 0:28:38.680 thirty nine million dollars, but it couldn't outpace hits like 0:28:38.840 --> 0:28:43.520 Dirty Dancing or RoboCop. A second movie with the Edwards 0:28:43.600 --> 0:28:49.080 Willis combo, a Western titled Sunset, fared poorly too. It 0:28:49.280 --> 0:28:53.440 was released the following year and barely made five million dollars. 0:28:54.760 --> 0:28:57.000 At least he got to ride a horse, though maybe 0:28:57.080 --> 0:29:00.400 even got to keep the cowboy outfit for later. But 0:29:00.840 --> 0:29:05.120 so far, audiences were uncertain about Willis on the big screen, 0:29:06.920 --> 0:29:11.680 and increasingly they were having concerns about Moonlighting two. The 0:29:11.840 --> 0:29:15.480 central conceit of the show was the ongoing sexual tension 0:29:15.680 --> 0:29:19.680 between David Addison and Maddie Hayes, and the will they 0:29:19.760 --> 0:29:23.240 or won't they conflict that fueled their on screen relationship. 0:29:24.200 --> 0:29:29.680 In March, viewers found out they would new Moonlighting, I 0:29:29.760 --> 0:29:36.120 feel reckless, and suddenly the air had left the room. 0:29:36.560 --> 0:29:39.360 The two were now a couple, an item, and all 0:29:39.440 --> 0:29:46.640 of that dramatic tension evaporated. So did ratings for decades afterward, 0:29:46.840 --> 0:29:51.560 Whenever TV producers would talk about unconsummated sexual tension on screen, 0:29:52.080 --> 0:29:56.360 they referenced Moonlighting as a kind of cautionary tale. Before 0:29:56.520 --> 0:29:59.800 jumping the shark entered the pop culture lexicon, you would 0:30:00.040 --> 0:30:03.520 we want to pull a Moonlighting and a racist shows 0:30:03.600 --> 0:30:08.040 reason for existing. It wasn't yet time for a sad 0:30:08.120 --> 0:30:11.200