Bruce Willis’ Team Refutes Accusations That Frequent Collaborator Randall Emmett Exploited Him

As we know, Bruce Willis retired from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, a condition that affects the brain’s language and speech centers. But due to his timing, one of the last movies we’ll ever see him star in is a 3rd rate schlock-fest called Wrong Place directed by who cares and co-starring a perfectly nice-looking lady whose most recent recognizable credit was 24th billed in the 2018 YouTube Red original series Step Up: High Water. But if it’s any solace, Wrong Place may also be one of the final credits for its producer Randall Emmett who, according to a new exposé in The Los Angeles Times, has been accused of all manner of unsavory behavior including, but definitely not limited to, exploiting, or at best, willfully ignoring, Bruce’s declining health as the pair cranked out one Razzie-worthy movie after another. However, if Randall drowns in the dozens of lawsuits he’s currently facing, it won’t be because of Bruce. Us Weekly reports that Bruce’s lawyer insists that Bruce continued to work well after he was diagnosed because he wanted to. Not because some neckless choad whose breath smells like Lala shit made him.

Randall is so toxic right now, even Lala Kent, the mother of his child and ruby starfruit sucker of his toothbrush, wouldn’t touch him with a 10-foot coke straw. They are broken up now, and Lala is a primary source for the LAT exposé. Randall is primarily a producer, but he made his directorial debut on the critically reviled Midnight in the Switchgrass which earned the film’s stars Bruce and Megan Fox Razzie nominations, though Bruce’s was later rescinded after his diagnosis was announced. In fact, Randall worked as a producer on half of the movies Bruce was Razzie-nominated for last year. Lala claims that after a difficult night of shooting, Randall called her to complain that Bruce was having trouble remembering his lines and taking direction. LAT reports:

“I can’t do this anymore,” Kent recalled him saying in a call overheard by two other people. “It’s just so sad. Bruce can’t remember any of his lines. He doesn’t know where he is.”

But in the 15 months after filming “Midnight in the Switchgrass,” Emmett made five more movies with Willis.

LAT reports that many other people on the set were concerned about Bruce’s well-being and ability to perform including the film’s stunt coordinator, First AD, and property master who said “you would have to be blind to not see him struggling.” But Randall, who has been working with Bruce since 2006, claims he didn’t notice anything at all. Maybe some of his hair grease leaked into his eyes.

Emmett, in a statement to The Times, denied the conversation with Kent occurred or that he was aware “of any decline in Mr. Willis’ health.”

Willis’ enduring appeal had helped propel Emmett’s production company, Emmett/Furla Oasis, to success; the 51-year-old producer used the Willis name and face to sell his films around the world. Since 2006, the actor has appeared in two dozen of the firm’s projects — and the pace of the output heightened as Willis’ health declined.

Seems impossible that Randall wouldn’t have known. But he’s off the hook for any accusations of exploitation from Bruce’s attorney who suggests that Bruce took all those roles for altruistic reasons. Us reports:

Shedding light on the matter. Bruce Willis’ attorney, Martin Singer, responded to accusations that producer Randall Emmett knew about the Sixth Sense actor’s health issues but continued pushing him to work anyway.

“My client continued working after his medical diagnosis because he wanted to work and was able to do so, just like many others diagnosed with aphasia who are capable of continuing to work,” Singer, 70, told the Los Angeles Times for an article published on Thursday, June 30. “Because Mr. Willis appeared in those films, they could get financed. That resulted in literally thousands of people having jobs, many during the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

I’m sure this comes as a great relief for Randall because he’s got a lot of other lawyers to worry about at the moment. via LAT:

A review of hundreds of court filings and internal company records, as well as interviews with three dozen former associates, depicts an empire that is crumbling. The once-high-flying producer faces lawsuits and mounting debts, as well as allegations of abuse against women, assistants and business partners. He is accused of inappropriate behavior with women, including offering acting work in exchange for sexual favors, and of forcing assistants to conduct dangerous and illegal activity on his behalf. Through his spokeswoman, Sallie Hofmeister, Emmett denied these allegations.

Emmett used an array of tactics to try to keep these allegations secret, including entering into nondisclosure agreements and allegedly promising a payment of about $200,000 to a female accuser, which Emmett has denied.

Emmett and his company now are confronting nearly a dozen lawsuits, including several from former financiers, an insurance company and a prior landlord, all clamoring to be repaid their portion of more than $25 million in outstanding loans and disputed payments. Several lawsuits accuse Emmett’s company of misrepresentation and civil fraud.

Randall, of course, blames Lala for all of this.

In a statement, Emmett … blamed the allegations contained in this story on Kent, a reality TV star with whom he has a child. “These allegations are false and part of a now-familiar smear campaign orchestrated by Randall’s ex-fiancee to sway their custody dispute,” said Hofmeister.

Damn women! Well, chin up, buddy. Ooops, sorry. That was rude. Try to keep that head up, if you can, I know it looks heavy. Maybe Wrong Place will come out at just the right time and become a box-office juggernaut that’ll blast Top Gun: Maverick right out of the sky.

Pics: Sara De Boer & Milla Cochran/startraksphoto.com