Hollywood is a twisted web. Behind the scenes -- in mysterious Burbank boardrooms and over croissant-festooned coffee tables in outsize Malibu homes -- byzantine deals are being struck between actors, directors, and executive producers. The tit-for-tat agreements that result from these meetings connect various films in unexpected ways. A successful actor may meet with an exec, for example, asking to produce an unusual and ambitious drama, hoping they had built up enough good will to be trusted with a financially risky art project. The exec may then stroke their chin and agree to produce the art project, but only if the actor appears in multiple commercially proven mainstream hits in exchange.

The actor may then reluctantly shake hands with the exec, knowing that it was the only way to get their vanity project made. If you have ever seen a massive movie star appearing in a freaked-out, low-budget indie film, it's likely you'll see them in a lot of high-profile pabulum in the next few years.

This was certainly the case with Bruce Willis in the 1990s. Willis has a fascinating filmography that swings wildly through mainstream actioners like "Die Hard" into hit comedies like "Look Who's Talking" and notorious adult-oriented bombs like "The Bonfire of the Vanities." Whether he appeared in good films or bad films, Willis always made interesting choices, and one can see the "one for me, three for you" trade-off in effect.

Although, in the mid-1990s, one of Willis' vanity projects fell apart so badly that he was required to star in three gigantic hits just to avoid legal action. At the time, Willis aimed to produce and star in a high-profile, awards-ready film called "Broadway Brawler," a romantic comedy about a hockey player. "Broadway Brawler" was to be distributed by Cinergi, a company owned by Disney, and was aiming for a 1997 release date.

The film wasted $14 million and 20 days of shooting before being canceled for reasons we'll get into below. Willis, to placate Disney, was forced to appear in "Armageddon," "The Sixth Sense," and "The Kid."