Yesterday, photos of Bruce Willis filming director Woody Allen’s latest (and currently untitled) movie surfaced online and the everything seemed fine. Just another late-era Allen production that inexplicably features a killer line-up of movie stars! Move along, nothing to see here! However, something seems to have gone horribly wrong between yesterday and today because Willis has abruptly dropped out of the film. That’s the news. What follows is gossip, albeit interesting gossip.

The initial story broke over at Deadline, where it was reported that Willis left the project due to a previous commitment to the Broadway stage adaptation of Stephen King’s Misery. If that seems like a weird excuse, that’s because it is. You don’t begin work on a movie knowing that you have to report to another gig in the middle of filming. Willis’ camp isn’t dumb – they didn’t double book one of the most famous actors in the industry.

So if the whole “prior commitment” thing smells like baloney, that’s because it probably is. Jeff Sneider of The Wrap took to Twitter with an alternate version of the story that makes a lot more sense: Willis was fired. It’s the only version of this story that makes sense, especially since the actor was literally filming yesterday and exited the project today.

A firing in this context doesn’t necessarily mean Willis was overturning craft services tables, throwing grips through set walls, and other offenses that make one liable for termination on a film set. It’s possible that he didn’t get along with Allen. But it’s also possible that he was just miscast and Allen decided to recast rather than attempt to smooth over a performance that wasn’t working. As The Playlist points out, Allen has recast major roles deep into production before. After all, he works fast (a movie a year at this point) and you make mistakes at that speed.

But don’t cry too much for Untitled Woody Allen Project 2016. It may have lost Bruce Willis, but it still has Kristen Stewart, Jesse Eisenberg, Blake Lively, Parker Posey, and Corey Stoll.

More From 100.7 KOOL FM