Kevin Smith blasts Bruce Willis

Kevin Smith has slammed Bruce Willis for being "soul crushing" to work with.

The Hollywood director - who worked with Bruce on 'Cop Out' revealed he hated working with the 55-year-old action star and claimed the actor's refusal to take part in promoting the movie was one of the main reasons it failed.

On the WTF with Marc Maron podcast he said: "It was difficult. I've never been involved in a situation like that where one component is not in the box at all. It was f*****g soul crushing.

"I mean, a lot of people are gonna be like, 'Oh, you're just trying to blame the movie on him.' I had no f*****g help from this dude whatsoever."

Meanwhile the 'Clerks' director revealed at the Sundance film festival yesterday (24.01.11) he will retire from directing after one more feature to concentrate on nurturing young filmmakers.

He made the announcement after the world premiere of his horror film 'Red State' which he announced he will distribute himself following a fake auction where he "bought back" the rights to his own movie for $20.

He said: "It's indie film 2.0 and in indie film 2.0 we sell our films ourselves."