Before Die Hard, Pulp Fiction, The Fifth Element, or any of the many characters Bruce Willis is known for, there was Moonlighting. Without his role as the charismatic, wisecracking detective David Addison, he may not have ever gotten the chance to star in those iconic films. Surprisingly, showrunner Glenn Gordon Caron revealed in 2007 that ABC fought hard against casting Willis.
Caron claimed they looked at "1100 men" for the part, searching in L.A., New York, Chicago, Toronto, and other major cities, hoping to find the right actor. At one point, the network offered to pay off Cybill Shepherd and Bob Butler, who had already been hired, because they believed the role of David was "uncastable." The next day, Willis came in for an interview.
"When he was done, he left, and I turned to the other people, I said, 'That's him,'" Caron noted in a Television Academy interview. "I said, 'We got to get him back here, we got to clean him up.' We brought him to the network, we brought him 11 times, and he was the only person I ever brought to the network and said, 'This is my choice,' and they turned him down 11 times."
Moonlighting involved a lot of talking, with Caron pointing out that they "would do 90-page scripts for a 44-minute episode." Of the 300 people he interviewed, Willis was one of three who successfully delivered the lines the way Caron envisioned. Yet, ABC still didn't want him.
Finally, he convinced Shepherd to do a screen test with Willis, so the network could see their chemistry. Still, the network insisted that Willis wasn't a leading man and no one would believe that Shepherd could fall for him.
The 'Dangerous' Pitch That Sealed the Deal
Finally, Anna Daniels, who was Head of Development, put the subject to rest with a very blunt statement to the executives.
"We were in this meeting with all these guys, and she said, 'Look, I don't know if he's a TV star or not, I don't know if he's a leading man or not, but he sure looks like a dangerous f--k to me,'" Caron recalled her saying. "It just sucked all the air; all these men were aghast."
In the end, that dangerous quality was exactly what television needed. Caron got what he wanted, and Willis went on to win an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award. By defying the network's traditional ideas of a leading man, Bruce Willis didn't just save Moonlighting; he paved the way for a legendary career that would redefine American cinema for decades to come.
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