‘He’s An ‘A**hole!’ Inside Bruce Willis’ Feud With ‘Moonlighting’ Co-Star Cybill
Jul. 1 2017, Published 2:09 p.m. ET
Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd famously feuded on the set of the '80s series Moonlighting – but what really went on behind-the-scenes? Co-star Curtis Armstrong tells all on their constant fighting and Willis’ hard-partying ways in his new book, RadarOnline.com can exclusively reveal.
Curtis, who played Viola on the ABC sitcom, explained how Cybill had a reputation for being a diva, while Bruce was funny, laid-back and casual in the beginning. “Bruce and Cybill were called to set at the same moment so that one would not have to wait for the other,” Curtis wrote in Revenge of the Nerd.
Curtis could tell there was friction between the actors long before he witnessed it himself. “The scene broke down and some sort of dispute began,” he wrote. “It escalated rapidly, ending with Cybill flinging a briefcase against the door with a force that shook the set.”
As their relationship continued to “deteriorate,” teamsters were instructed to “measure the distance between their two trailer doors to the stage entrance, so one actor wouldn’t have to walk even a foot farther than the other.”
Bruce and Cybill would shoot their lines first and then leave the set, “leaving it the guest star to get through the scene however they could with only the script supervisor to feed them lines.” Curtis was so “ashamed” of their "inconsiderate" behavior that he would show up and read the lines in their place.
Curtis explained how Cybill struggled with the “boys’ club” mentality of the show. “Cybill was always impossible,” the crew told him. “Cybill, they said, was always a b****h. But Bruce, he was one of us, whoever the ‘us’ was they were referring to.”
Another cause of the feud could’ve been a rendezvous gone wrong between the two stars. “Bruce intimated to me that there had been one disastrously ill-conceived ‘thing’ between him and Cybill, early on in the show’s run,” he penned. “While not going into explicit details, he made it clear that that kind of mistake was one I should be sure never to make.”
But one of Curtis’ co-stars explained the two had more of a “sibling rivalry” and acted like “two spoiled children.” “’No one ever said no to her,’” the co-star told Curtis of Cybill. “’If anyone ever said no to her, they were gone. That’s why she was the way she was. Bruce was just an a**hole.”
An example was when Cybill threatened to leave the series after season two if show creator Glenn Caron wasn’t fired. ABC caved and he was gone along with many other executive producers.
For the series final scene, editors had to “artificially slow down to give the impression that they were looking into each other’s eyes.” When the cast had to film a video to answer the question “What Does the End of Moonlighting Mean to Me,” Willis responded, “Blow me.”
During filming, Bruce kept pausing a scene because one of the co-stars wasn’t close enough to the camera. He eventually stormed off set. When the actress apologized, he fired at her, “’Do you have any idea how hard it is to be that funny?! Do you?! Do you?!’ His voice raised to a near-shout.”
Curtis described Bruce as a “partier” and a “swinger.” When he met Bruce for the first time, he describes him as being “barely dressed at all” and appearing to be “hung over.” “He’d been in a club most of the night and overslept,” Bruce explained to him. “Rather than shower, he just fell naked into his swimming pool, threw some clothes on and actually arrived at his call time.”
One time, Curtis was with a girl when Bruce walked by. “She wasn’t beside me anymore,” he said. “I looked back just in time to see her walking with Bruce to his trailer. Finally, about forty-five minutes later, Bruce emerged with her, she disappeared into the darkness and he slipped into the car beside me.” He explained that his eyes were “glassy” as he said, “I am never getting married!”