Monday, October 28, 1996

Laurence Fishburne has Bruce Willis served

The Insider - Mitchell Fink
October 28, 1996

Gotcha! That's what lawyers for Laurence Fishburne must have said when a process server nailed Bruce Willis with a summons as he accompanied wife Demi Moore into a recent Los Angeles screening of her HBO movie If These Walls Could Talk. Fishburne is suing Cinergi, the production company for Die Hard with a Vengeance, claiming they broke a verbal promise to give him the role of Willis's sidekick Zeus, which went instead to Samuel L. Jackson. Fishburne's attorneys reportedly contend Willis was witness to a meeting in which Fishburne was offered the part. Willis's attorney Martin Singer tells me his client "has nothing to hide because he doesn't know anything about this." Ironically, Jackson turns up again in a small role that may have been intended for Fishburne—in Trees Lounge, the critically praised, low-budget movie written and directed by actor Steve Buscemi. The name of Jackson's character? Larry. At the movie's recent New York City premiere, Buscemi said Jackson "hassled" him about being given the name. Buscemi, a friend of Fishburne's, admits he may have "subconsciously" written the part for Fishburne.

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Laurence Fishburne has Bruce Willis served