● Bruce Willis donates 'Die Hard' memorabilia
With Live Free or Die Hard, the fourth installment of the Die Hard series, hitting theatres on Wednesday, Bruce Willis is doing everything in his power to make the movie a success. Willis has done a widespread press campaign to ensure that the Die Hard franchise, which started out nearly twenty years ago, sees a successful return to the big screen. As the Die Hard series showcases its return, Bruce Willis appeared at the National Air and Space Museum to donate several objects from the Die Hard movies to the Smithsonian's "Treasures of American History" collection.
The Die Hard memorabilia, which includes a soiled T-shirt Willis wore while filming the first Die Hard movie, will find a home alongside some of the most recognizable movie props, such as the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, as well as the C3PO and R2D2 droids from the Star Wars movies. Brent Glass, the director of the National Museum of American History, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, "We look for objects that represent leading figures of theater, film and television, from Broadway stages to the backstages and in front of and behind the camera and including: costumes, set models, scripts and posters."
Among the objects donated to the collection are a promotional poster for the first film, a combat-dirtied shirt worn by Willis' character, John McClane, and the officer's New York Police Department badge. As well as the props, a copy of Live Free or Die Hard was included in the donation. Bruce Willis said that, "being an entertainer is a very interesting job. Sometimes you get to be called a hero, but in the nation's capital, the real heroes are the people that serve - those in the armed forces, law enforcement, the military and the EMTs to keep us safe."
Willis went on to say that, "Twenty years ago when I first worked on this film, I had no idea it would be considered part of the forever business." Willis did admit that while he was happy with the donation, "I think the ruby slippers are way cooler. I was pretty surprised by this." Brent Glass said he wasn't surprised at all, as Die Hard has become the "quintessential action movie". He welcomed the donation from the Die Hard franchise, as it is in line with the museum's mission to record American entertainment history.
Museum curator Dwight Bowers said that the exhibit to the Die Hard franchise would show how film and TV could preserve the mood of the country and a particular point in history. "They capture a pivotal moment in time and make it timeless." Bowers went on to say that, "The 'Die Hard' series is founded on a 1979 novel 'Nothing Last's Forever,' but I can assure you that these objects will indeed have a long life in our collections at the Smithsonian."
● Added 4 HQ photos of Bruce and his daughters at that event mentioned above :
● Added 12 UHQ photos of Bruce at the photocall during the premiere of "Die Hard 4.0" in Paris on 14th June 2007 :
● Willis' wit and wits keep the 'Die Hard' thrills alive
After nearly 20 years, most of us know the "Die Hard" formula: Sleazeball "terrorists" hatch complicated plot that's really a ruse to steal money but dogged, virtually indestructible New York cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) gums up the works. Now can we blow some stuff up?
Despite the word "Die" in the title, McClane's really, really hard to kill. The guy can take a licking - we're talking drops down elevator shafts, bullets to the body, car crashes, jet-fighter attacks, etc. - and keep on sticking it to the bad guys.
"Live Free or Die Hard," the fourth installment in the franchise that began when Ronald Reagan was in office and Willis had hair, does not stray far from the typical conventions and plot machinations. But that doesn't mean it's not one of the best popcorn-munching thrill rides at the multiplex this summer. "Die Hard" delivers the goods, even if some of the explosions and elaborate stunts bend the laws of physics.
This time around, McClane is a lonely, aging, divorced lieutenant detective for the New York police department. One night, when he's spying on his estranged daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) at college, he's dispatched to pick up a Red Bull-swilling computer geek named Marshall (Justin Long). The Feds want to question Marshall, whose buddies in the hacker community have developed a habit of being blown to bits in front of their flatscreens.
Marshall's speciality is code encryption and his handiwork may have helped a cyber-terrorist named Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant from "Coastlines" and "Deadwood") execute a plan to manipulate the stock market, blackout the Atlantic Seaboard and control cable television.
The most insidious cyber-attack involves snarling traffic in major cities by monkeying with the stop lights and causing the mother of all gridlock. Now, that's just evil.
Gabriel's gang of Eurotrash killers (another "Die Hard" staple) include some acrobatic French henchmen who can swing from fire escapes and through stairwells with the ease of lemurs. They're lethal little lemurs packing a lot of heat, though.
Since this is the first "Die Hard" movie since the attacks of 9/11 and the federal government's bungling of post-Katrina New Orleans, those catastrophic events hang over the movie's Armageddon scenario like the proverbial pachyderms in the proverbial powder room. Even the anthrax scares of 2001 are exploited by Gabriel. All this fills "Live Free or Die Hard" with an air of immediacy that the other "Die Hards" didn't have.
"It took FEMA five days to get water to the Superdome," conspiracy-theorist Marshall reminds McClane after witnessing a bickering breakdown in command.
Thanks goodness that crusty ol' McClane - described by one baddie as "a Timex watch in a digital age" - is onhand to save our collective butts by using old-school technology such as a CB radio, a pistol, a classic car, a pipe wrench and an endless supply of glib one-liners. If the gun-toting geezer packed his own oxygen tank he would use it as an explosive device.
● Bruce Willis says he's Hollywood's 'Die Hard'
Veteran action hero Bruce Willis said he was thrilled to still be acting at the age of 52, acknowledging that his fourth Die Hard film had a high potential to flop.
What "is most surprising for me is that I'm still here, that I still get to be here. You know, just by the sheer fact of sticking around for 22 years," Willis said in Tokyo where he was present for the world premiere of Die Hard 4.
"Some actors don't get to stick around that long. I'm thrilled to still be here and get to act in big movies like Die Hard 4," he said, occasionally wiping his bald head with a wet towel.
Willis is the latest Hollywood star to return to his old roles later in life. Sylvester Stallone, 60, recently cut Rocky Balboa, about the underdog boxer heading once more time to the ring, and is filming another Rambo film.
Willis, playing cop John McClane, in the latest flick chases cyberhackers who attempt to crash US financial networks and stock markets to cripple the economy.
"When we started making this film the potential to fail was very high. There was a huge risk factor, trying to make another one of these films," he said. But "I think it really lived up to all our expectations."
"Now we're giggling like a bunch of fish but when we were making this film it was difficult," he said, pointing to the rushed schedule.
The movie is set to premiere on select screens in Japan on June 23, four days before its release in the United States and elsewhere in the world.
Willis, wearing a tan suit with a white shirt in between co-stars Justin Long and Maggie Q, said he didn't see his character -- or himself -- as a hero.
"I don't see myself as a hero," he said. "So much of what I was as a kid coming out of New Jersey was what formed John McClane's character: disrespect for authority, a really jacked-up sense of humour. But I always have a sense of right and wrong, and a sense of justice.
"And I think that's where heroism comes from: that you will not allow anybody -- a bad guy, a bad country, a bad monster from outer space -- whatever it is... hurt someone that you love."
● Willis defends former Grey's Anatomy star
Actor Bruce Willis has described Isaiah Washington's dismissal from 'Grey's Anatomy' as "a little over the top".
Willis said that he felt the decision not to renew Washington's contract, after he made a homophobic comment about one of his co-stars, was too extreme.
Willis told Time magazine: "I hate to think we live in a time when you can get fired from your job because of what you say."
"(Isaiah Washington) didn't punch anyone. I think we'll think differently with hindsight," he said.
● Willis wears mini-wind turbine on his head
Actor BRUCE WILLIS surprised U.S. chat show host DAVID LETTERMAN with a little wind power on Monday (25Jun07), when he arrived for his appearance on The Late Show with a mini-turbine strapped to his head. The Die Hard star had made a habit of wearing odd wigs and headgear for his spots on pal Letterman's late-night show. He told Letterman, "I got the idea from Al Gore's big film, the global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth." Willis then jokingly revealed he plans his own climate change documentary, An Unappealing Hunch. The movie star also had fun with a spoof stunt on the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theatre, where The Late Show is filmed - he threw himself off the building, missed a pool of water and landed head first on the pavement. He was helped to his feet by a Late Show regular and appeared woozy and bloody.
● The Hollywood star feels 25 and plans more kids
Bruce Willis has revealed he wants to become a dad again - at the ripe old age of 52.
The Die Hard star, who already has three daughters with ex Demi Moore, says the biological clock doesn't matter when you're a fella.
'I would really love a son, or two sons, or three more girls. I just haven't met anybody yet that I want to have kids with,' he explains.
'But that's the good thing about being a guy - it doesn't matter how old you are.'
And the sexy star says he's still loving being single.
'The bachelor thing is terrific,' he tells Live magazine. 'I took a couple of shots at romance and it didn't work out.
'I love women. You know how guys look at women and go, "Ooh, wow!" I'm still that guy. I can't believe I am 52, because in my heart I'm 25.'
● Bruce Willis is a technophobe.
The 52-year-old action star - who battles a group of cyber-terrorists in new movie 'Die Hard 4.0' - can only just manage to turn a computer on and relies on his three daughters to help him with modern technology.
When asked how computer-savvy he is, Bruce told BANG Showbiz: "Medium. I have to say medium probably. I know how to turn the computer on. I know where the disc goes, in that little slot. I can't always get it out, but I know where it should go. And I have three really genius-level computer savvy kids who save my ass all the time."
Bruce - who has three daughters, Rumer, 18, Scout, 15, and Tallulah, 12, with ex-wife Demi Moore - did admit that the internet has changed his life in one major way.
He added: "I tell you what I don't do anymore, I don't watch the news on TV. I get my news online and I Google people I meet."
● Bruce Willis collects scars from the 'Die Hard' movies as souvenirs.
The 52-year-old actor - who has reprised his role as maverick cop John McClane 12 years after the third instalment - gained an array of injuries from the latest movie 'Die Hard 4.0' to add to his collection.
He told BANG Showbiz: "I wish I kept a scrapbook because there was a couple of solid weeks when from my hip to my ankle both legs were just black and blue, just beat to s**t. I had skin taken off me. I got knocked out once and I got some stitches. "I have souvenirs from all four films."
Willis also admitted he is getting too old to be jumping off buildings and throwing himself out of speeding cars, all in the name of entertainment. He added: "If they are talking about doing another one they better hurry up and do it!"
● Bruce Willis Resurrects John McClane for 'Live Free or Die Hard'
Harrison Ford is putting his Indiana Jones fedora back on; Sylvester Stallone successfully made a champ of Rocky Balboa again last year and has another Rambo mission on deck; and Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminated one last time before putting politics in his gunsights.
So with a generation of near-Geritol age action heroes back in business, it's hardly a surprise that at 52, the youngest of the 80s blow-'em-up superstars is also returning to his signature character with Live Free or Die Hard. But Bruce Willis was originally reluctant to resurrect John McClane. [ read more ]
● Bruce Willis beaten up by a girl
Bruce Willis loved getting his butt kicked by a woman in the latest Die Hard movie.
The 52-year-old star - whose character New York police officer John McClane battles sexy villain Mai in Die Hard 4.0 - says the explosive fight scene with Maggie Q is one of his favourites in the movie.
He said: "The stuff that I do with Maggie is just bananas. First of all I have never fought a woman in a film before. Second, I have never got my ass kicked by a woman in a film before.
"Third, I don't hit women in real life, never have, never will, but Maggie bought believability to it.
"It's one of my favourite scenes of the film."
Hawaiian-born Maggie, 28, also revealed Bruce encouraged her to hit him harder.
She added: "A hero and a tough guy like Bruce is I imagined he would be like 'I don't want a chick kicking my ass', but he was really into it. And that was really cool.
"When someone you are supposed to be hurting is saying 'yeah, good, more', the tougher you look and the better it will sell."
● Bruce Willis' British roots!
Bruce Willis recently had his roots traced, and to his surprise found that he's British.
The actor revealed that his ancestors come from Ecton, a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England, reports the Mirror.
However, he got a bit confused as to the location of the place, for though he describes it as "a small fishing village in the north of London", it happens to be landlocked.
If the actor really is from Ecton, then his ancestors could also have been neighbours of Benjamin Franklin's ancestors, who lived there for over three hundred years.
Franklin was one of the best-known Founding Fathers of the United States. He was also a leading author, political theorist, politician, printer, scientist, inventor, civic activist, and diplomat.
● Bruce Willis on raising his daughters outside of Hollywood
The Willis girls, Rumer, 18, Scout, 15, and Tallulah, 13, may be under the media microscope nowadays, but dad Bruce reminds everyone that wasn't always the case and asserts that his daughters are different from the typical celebrity offspring.
My kids weren't raised in the glare of public life. For the first 13 years of their life, they were raised in a tiny little town in the mountains [Hailey, ID]. [Demi Moore and I] just talked to them. We said, 'This is what is allowed. This is what's OK in our family. This is how I feel about things in the world, and this is the difference between right and wrong.'
The three aren't television or movie enthusiasts either, which pleases Bruce, 52, immensely. Rather, they're all fans of the outdoors, not to mention the world. Scout has decided to go on a foreign exchange program in Europe - which could account for her absence at the Live Free or Die Hard premiere.
She did all her own homework on it and told us where she wanted to go and why. She's a pretty phenomenal kid. She knows what she wants to do and she sets goals for herself.
● Bruce Willis experimented with drugs in his youth.
The 'Die Hard 4.0' star has confessed he enjoyed an "irresponsible" existence in the 70s when he was a stage actor in New York.
Bruce said: "Living in Manhattan was the most irresponsible, carefree time of my life. I had a great time going wild. I drank too much. I also smoked weed and tried various drugs.
"I only liked pot, though. I smoked a lot of pot and when I wasn't acting, I was out dancing every night. I had a blast and I could stretch $20 over three days - I would live off pizza and beer."
The 52-year-old actor - who has three daughters with ex-wife Demi Moore, Rumer, 18, Scout, 15, and Tallulah, 12 - insists he, Demi and her new husband Ashton Kutcher work together to educate the girls about drugs.
Bruce explained: "Demi, Ashton and I all work together to teach our kids what drugs are about, what drinking and driving means and all the perils of the world.
"But my kids get it. They talk to me about everything. They tell me what drugs the kids in school are taking and what's available."
● Bruce Willis Got Big Pulp Fiction Role Thanks To Kids
Actor Bruce Willis has his kids to thank for his iconic role in Pulp Fiction - he met director Quentin Tarantino through them.
The action-hero superstar wasn't considered for the 1994 Academy Award-winning film until a fellow Hollywood father suggested him to Tarantino.
He recalls, "I got that part because of my kids! Harvey Keitel (co-star in the film) came to pick up his daughter from my house. One day, he mentioned that Quentin was over at his house and I should meet him.
"That's when he offered me the role."
● Bruce Willis, ESPN create Fan Challenge NEW!
Bruce Willis, who returns as John McClane in Live Free or Die Hard, is teaming with ESPN to offer movie and sports fans the chance to participate in "The 'Live Free or Die Hard' Sports Fan Challenge."
The promotion features exclusive SportsCenter programming with Willis and a chance to win the challenge contest online.
This first-of-its-kind movie promotion will culminate in a special Live Free or Die Hard edition of SportsCenter on 26 June 2007. Commercial breaks will be replaced by interstitial vignettes featuring Willis, the Philadelphia Eagles' Donovan McNabb and ESPN's Mike and Mike. There will also be exclusive sneak peaks of Live Free or Die Hard, which Twentieth Century Fox releases on 27 June 2007.
Willis will also be seen in hilarious co-branded TV spots alongside the San Diego Chargers' Antonio Gates, announcing "The 'Live Free or Die Hard' Sports Fan Challenge" and inviting viewers to log on to ESPN.com to enter the contest. Participants can register to win a private screening of the film for friends and family; a trip to a live taping of SportsCenter; and weekly prizes include DVD Box sets of the Die Hard Collection.
● You can find the latest Die Hard 4.0 trailer on the right. Wanna bigger version ? Click on it and it will open in the standard youtube.com . Enjoy!
● Have you seen this ?
Emma, thanks for the info =)
● Bruce Willis Admits He Stuttered As A Child
Bruce Willis was bullied as a child because he stuttered. The "Die Hard 4.0" actor developed a stutter at the age of eight and was teased as a result.
Bruce said: "I could barely talk sometimes. I still had friends but I was bullied a lot. The bullying meant I also learned how to fight. Everyone knew not to f**k with me because they knew they'd get their ass kicked."
Bruce discovered joining a drama club allowed him to express himself and by the time he turned 16, his stutter had disappeared when he performed.
He said: "I was in a play and when I got onstage I stopped stuttering - I couldn't believe it. I realized that the reason the stutter stopped was because I was acting."
His speech impediment continued throughout high school. Bruce eventually enrolled in a New Jersey drama college, and his professors helped to cure his stutter completely.
● Bruce Willis Was Lucky To Get 'Die Hard' Role
Bruce Willis almost missed out on playing tough guy John McClane in the Die Hard films twice - after initially passing on the first movie and then having to wait for his peers to turn the role down.
The actor has to thank his Moonlighting TV series co-star Cybill Shepherd for getting pregnant and allowing him the chance to play McClane - but he still had to wait for the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone to pass.
He explains, "I'd already read the script for 'Die Hard' once, but had to pass because of the show. As it turns out, a miracle happened - Cybill Shepherd got pregnant and they shut down the show for 11 weeks - just the right amount of time for me to run around over at Nakatomi tower. I think I was the 50th choice. They went to everyone."
But Willis regrets turning down the chance to star in another action movie franchise, Lethal Weapon.
He reveals, "My girlfriend read it and said it was way too violent. Thank God I didn't do that one!"
● Bruce and Rumer Willis in teenage Chinatown
It was only a matter of time before Bruce Willis and his daughter, Rumer, teamed up on a film together again, after she appeared in Hostage with her dad. The latest father/daughter re-pairing sees Bruce and Rumer signed onto The Sophomore, alongside Mischa Barton. The film has been described as a teenage take on the classic Jack Nicholson crime/thriller, Chinatown.
Whatever your view is of the constant stream of remakes coming out of Hollywood recently, you're going to have to deal with another one that was just announced, based on the hit 1974 crime thriller, Chinatown. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bruce Willis, Rumer Willis and Mischa Barton have all signed up to star in The Sophomore, which is a modern teenage take on Chinatown. While The Sophomore doesn't deal with a city water supply conspiracy and a murder like Chinatown, the premise does involve a conspiracy, centered on stolen SAT exams. The film will feature Mischa Barton as the most popular girl in her Catholic high school, who hires a sophomore reporter to investigate the theft of the exams, which uncovers a more sinister conspiracy involving the school's principal and star jock.
Bruce Willis is set to play the school's weird principle, who happens to be a Desert Storm veteran who's still trying to re-live his glory days from Kuwait. Rumer Willis is slated to play the trouble making sidekick of Barton's character.
The Sophomore, which was originally titled Assassination of a High School President, will be produced by the Yari Film Group, along with Roy Lee and Doug Davison of Vertigo Entertainment. The film is also slated to be helmed by Brett Simon and penned by Tim Calpin and Kevin Jakubowski, all of whom are making their feature film debuts. Brett Simon has worked in music videos in the past, doing work for bands like, Good Charlotte and The Killers.
Rumer Willis got her first taste of the film world in the mid 90s after appearing with her mother, Demi Moore, in Now and Then and Striptease. Rumer returned to the big screen in 2005 with her father, Bruce Willis, with a role in Hostage.
Mischa Barton, the fast rising young actress from London, England also started in the film business back in the mid 90s and has quickly amassed an impressive resume of work. Her credits include the films Notting Hill, The Sixth Sense, Octane, and The OH in Ohio. While constantly adding to her film credits, Mischa Barton is best known for her television work, as the character Marissa Cooper on the TV series The O.C. Mischa Barton has also made appearances on the TV series, Kablam!, Once and Again, Fastlane, and the soap opera, All My Children.
Bruce Willis, best known as John McClane in the Die Hard films, has worked in film and television for the past 30 years, appearing in such movies as, Blind Date, Look Who's Talking (voice), The Bonfire of the Vanities, Billy Bathgate, The Last Boy Scout, Pulp Fiction, Twelve Monkeys, Last Man Standing, The Fifth Element, Armageddon, Unbreakable, Sin City, Alpha Dog, Lucky Number Slevin, and the upcoming Live Free or Die Hard. Future projects for Bruce Willis include, Black Water Transit, Morgan's Summit, and The Last Full Measure.
● Bruce Willis gets back in the action
Actor Bruce Willis says he is glad to be back doing action films - but at age 52, he admitted that surviving Die Hard 4.0 was no easy task.
"It was a really hard film to make," he said yesterday at a Tokyo news conference.
Willis said he was concerned at the start that taking the story of New York detective John McClane into its fourth film might be difficult.
"A year ago when we started making this film, the risk factor was very high," he said. "There was a high possibility of failure in a film like this. But it turned out very well."
The latest instalment in the Die Hard series, titled Live Free or Die Hard in the US, revolves around a planned cyber-terror attack on the United States. Willis teamed up with Justin Long, who plays a computer hacker, to thwart the evil Mai - Hong Kong star Maggie Quigley, better known as Maggie Q.
Willis noted that the movie's director, Len Wiseman, was just 16 years old when the first Die Hard was released in 1988 - evidence that, as the name suggests, the movie has staying power.
"Now you can see me as a 32-year-old actor and as a 52-year-old actor," he said.
Audiences can also see Willis get beat up by a woman.
"This is the first time I've fought against a woman in a film and lost," Willis said.
He said the fight was filmed in a huge mock-up of an elevator shaft, which was five stories high and cost $US1.5 million ($1.8 million) to build.
"It's the biggest fight in the film," he said. "We even drove a car into it."
The film marks a return to action movies for Willis, the quintessential tough, silent hero.
After Die Hard with a Vengeance, the third movie in the series, Willis won acclaim for his dramatic skills in The Sixth Sense, a ghost/love story.
"It's been 12 years," Willis said of the Die Hard franchise. "I told myself I was going to take a break from action films until the genre reinvented itself. We were just waiting for a good film to come around."
● Added photos of Bruce's appearances on MTV's Total Request Live at MTV Times Square Studios on May 17, 2006 :
● Die Hard Q&A With Bruce Willis.IGN and John McClane live free in Second Life.
IGN recently had the chance to enjoy a live Q&A with John McClane himself, Bruce Willis, in the virtual world Second Life. We were able to interact with Bruce's avatar and hear his real-time responses audibly.
Second Life has created a Virtual Movie Expo of unprecedented scale and detail, giving its residents the opportunity to step inside some of the key locations and moments from the movie -- from hanging out in Warlock's "Command Centre" to leaping from an exploding helicopter. Visitors can collect freebie avatar accessories from the movie, and enter a contest to win a (virtual) fighter jet, chopper or big rig. It will remain open for six weeks following the June 8th Q&A.
The Q&A was filmed by people in the auditorium, and you can see/hear it on the Second Life Cable Network. This is the first time that a Second Life event of this profile has been filmed and offered live (with a log-in) in this way.
For those Die Hard fans who did not win the chance to participate in the virtual Q&A, here's your chance to read what Bruce Willis had to say about reprising his role as underdog cop John McClane in this summer's Live Free or Die Hard: [ read the rest ].
● Added photos of Bruce attending "Mr. Brooks" premiere on May 22, 2007 :
● Bruce Willis Thanks Will Smith For Saving Family Relationship
Bruce Willis has thanked Will Smith for saving his relationship with former wife Demi Moore and their three children.
The pair were divorced in 1998 after 11 years of marriage and are parents to kids Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah Belle.
Willis admits it was difficult to see his ex-wife dating actor Ashton Kutcher, who she later married in 2005, but concedes it was Smith's wise words that helped him through the difficult time.
He tells Playboy magazine, "During some very dark hours he talked to me about it. He said, 'Dude, you've got to do whatever it takes to get the kids and all the spouses or the girlfriend together.
"You've got to show your kids it's Ok.' It was like a light went on. Ding. So Will, thanks. And thanks for all those good movies you're making."
● Mr. Cool.
Returning to 'Die Hard' after 12 years, Bruce Willis proves his steely resolve and working-class charm never go out of style.
Bruce Willis looks polished to a Beverly Hills shine. He's trimmer and less bulky in person than you might expect -- there doesn't seem to be an ounce of excess fat anywhere on his 52-year-old frame. He's wearing an expensive-looking gray suit and a crisp white shirt. On this rainy late-May morning at the Crescent Court Hotel, he keeps his BlackBerry close at hand, making certain to check e-mail in between interviews.
He has that air of effortless authority that can only be cultivated through years of being treated like the most important person in the room. When, for instance, he forgets the name of a stunt person he worked with on the third "Die Hard" film, he asks a publicist to make a few phone calls to Los Angeles to find out. Not unlike Meryl Streep's character in The Devil Wears Prada, he doesn't need to raise his voice to make it perfectly clear that he expects this information to be retrieved immediately.
In three words, he is calm, cool and collected.
And try as you might to penetrate his guard -- to get him to reflect on his two-decade-plus career in Hollywood or consider the possibility that he's never gotten the credit he deserves as a serious actor -- Willis will steadfastly resist your efforts.
"Fifty percent of the time I'm right, but 50 percent of the time I'm just as wrong," he says in response to a question about his knack for choosing projects like Die Hard (1988) and The Sixth Sense (1999) -- critical and commercial successes that also redefined their respective genres. "I've made just as many mistakes in choosing as I have successes. I really don't know more than anyone else does."
When you ask him when he began to develop such evident confidence as an actor -- a confidence that has allowed him to take some vastly underappreciated risks, in movies as far ranging as Nobody's Fool (1994), Twelve Monkeys (1995) and Unbreakable (2000) -- Willis even more quickly dismisses the question.
"I still don't know what I'm doing," he says. "I'm still learning how to act. Every film ... you have to put on a different set of clothes, a different set of armor, a different set of acting muscles. I've learned that that's the process."
On June 27, Willis will turn up once again as John McClane in Live Free or Die Hard, the fourth installment of the "Die Hard" franchise (and the first "Die Hard" movie in 12 years). It sounds like one of those ill-fated attempts by a fading star to rekindle his past glory -- the kind of movie that could turn an icon into a laughingstock (see Sylvester Stallone's recent Rocky Balboa).
The thing about Willis, however, is that he's never really faded, despite having appeared in his share of notorious bombs, like The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) and Hudson Hawk (1991), and despite the fact that he hasn't had a huge hit in years.
Instead, his brand of simmering American cool -- the unflappable tough guy who plays everything very close to the vest -- only seems more appealing in our modern era of the pretty-boy, eager-to-please action hero (paging Orlando Bloom and Tobey Maguire). Willis' work in dramatic roles has proved even more remarkable, being both understated and unpredictable.
Willis would probably never fess up to this himself. It would require him to let down his guard -- and that's clearly not something he's about to do. But behind this glistening and steely movie-star facade is one of the most accomplished and original actors working in movies today.
Building a better Bruce
"The day after Fox agreed to pay me $5 million to do that film, every male actor's salary in Hollywood rotated up to that number," Willis says of his record-breaking salary for the original Die Hard. "I didn't get any cards. No thank-yous. No Christmas presents. I remember there were studio heads who predicted that it would be the end of film, to pay an unproven TV actor that much money for a film. They were predicting doom."
At the time, the studio heads' concern certainly seemed legit. Willis was known mostly for his role as David Addison opposite Cybill Shepherd on the ABC series Moonlighting. He was also known as the former bartender from New Jersey who partied all hours of the day and night. The idea that this likable but fundamentally lightweight TV actor could anchor a major summer movie seemed hard to fathom.
Willis proved the naysayers wrong -- and then some. Funny, gripping, and breathlessly paced, Die Hard -- about a cop who must single-handedly rescue a group of hostages from a skyscraper -- earned almost universally favorable reviews and ended up grossing $83 million. Willis brought to the movie the same smirky charm he displayed on Moonlighting. But he also showed an forcefulness we hadn't seen from him before -- a kind of blue-collar tenacity that made the McClane character tremendously appealing.
Still, one big hit doesn't necessarily translate into an enduring career. (Just ask Willis' fellow '80s action heroes, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme.) And Willis miraculously managed to survive one commercial and critical blow after another, among them Blake Edwards' period-piece comedy Sunset (1988) and Robert Benton's inert adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's Billy Bathgate (1991).
So was there a secret to Willis' early success?
"I guess it's that I get to mix it up," he offers tentatively. "I don't know. But I got to do different things and play supporting roles. I think the first time I did that was in Mortal Thoughts. My agent and everyone who advises me said, 'You can't do this, you're going to lower your price, it's a bad idea.' But it turned out OK."
Well, actually more than OK. Indeed, it was in a number of supporting parts that followed -- in Benton's Nobody's Fool (1994) and Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994) -- that Willis began to develop his trademark style. In his best performances, he keeps one foot firmly planted in the old-school tradition of Humphrey Bogart or John Wayne, maintaining an ultra-cool and stoic demeanor amid so much chaos.
But he also reveals a more modern, metrosexual side: He's the tough guy who's not afraid to admit that, sometimes, he's falling apart on the inside. (In the case of his supporting turn in Ed Zwick's The Siege, he's the tough guy who's not afraid to admit that he might be a raging, paranoid lunatic on the inside; this underrated thriller makes you wish Willis would play a bad guy more often.)
By the time he paired with M. Night Shyamalan for the now-classic The Sixth Sense (1999), he was a major movie star. But that movie -- in which he played a mysterious psychiatrist who befriends a young boy who has supernatural visions -- revealed that Willis had also developed the sort of complex interior life that we associate with our very greatest actors. Haunted without being mopey and (just as in real life) commanding without being especially loud, Willis is heartbreaking in The Sixth Sense, finally reducing the audience to tears. It remains one of the biggest Oscar oversights in the past decade that he was not nominated for a statue alongside co-stars Haley Joel Osment and Toni Collette.
'Die Hard' another day
Live Free or Die Hard arrives in theaters after a string of disappointments for Willis: Some of these films, like Hostage (2005) or this year's Perfect Stranger, were ill-conceived from the start; others -- namely Hart's War (2002) and 16 Blocks (2006) -- were modest genre pieces that never quite found the audiences they deserved. But Willis insists that he's not reviving the McClane character out of desperation; in fact, he says it took the studio years to persuade him to do it.
"There was a lot of trepidation when I was considering it," he says. "The potential to fail was really high. We had to have a great script, and we needed to get a great director."
When Willis visited Dallas last month, Fox still didn't have a finished print of the film to show journalists. Instead, the studio screened the opening 20 minutes, in which McClane is called to help the FBI track down a young computer hacker (Justin Long) and bring him in for questioning. It's a promising start, lean and confidently directed by Underworld's Len Wiseman. And it's immediately evident that, despite all those years high on the A-list, Willis hasn't lost his ability to play a working-class cop. He falls into the role like a man putting on a pair of well-worn jeans.
Will the movie appeal to today's bigger-louder-noisier action fans -- mostly teenage boys who were still in diapers when the last "Die Hard" movie opened in 1995? Will the crowds just stay away and wait until Transformers hit theaters a few days later?
If he's worried, Willis certainly isn't about to let you see him sweat. Quite the contrary, he seems so relaxed and authoritative talking about Live Free or Die Hard that the actual success or failure of the film almost seems beside the point. You get the sense that, one way or the other, Mr. Cool will weather any storm.
You get the sense, too, that he's one of those enduring Hollywood icons -- like Jimmy Stewart or Cary Grant or Paul Newman -- who will only get better with age. The quality that all of these men share: They're experts at making everything seem so very effortless.
"When I was learning how to act, doing Moonlighting and the films I was doing then, I felt that I wasn't really going to get the best roles until I was in my 40s and 50s," Willis says, barely raising his voice above the rumble of the thunder outside.
"My prediction was accurate. I just know so much more about storytelling now. And I understand that my job has never been to be a movie star. My job is to be entertaining as an actor."
The definitive Bruce Willis
Five performances to remember
1 Mortal Thoughts (1991): Willis revealed an unexpected dark side playing a physically abusive husband who ends up dead in this vastly underrated drama directed by Alan Rudolph. The character might easily have been played as a cliche, but Willis finds nuance and even humanity in him. The strong ensemble cast also includes Glenne Headly (as Willis' wife), Demi Moore (as the wife's best friend) and Harvey Keitel as the detective investigating Willis' death.
2 Pulp Fiction (1994): Willis' unique physical presence -- the bald head, the bulldog intensity, the smirk that can readily curdle into a venomous frown -- has never been put to better use than in this great Quentin Tarantino-directed crime thriller. He plays a laconic boxer trying to escape the clutches of a gangster -- and he deserved just as much praise as was bestowed upon his co-stars John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson.
3 Nobody's Fool (1994): This small-scale masterpiece, about a man (Paul Newman) in upstate New York dealing with life, love and getting older, has been inexplicably forgotten in the 12 years since its release. Check it out, and pay special attention to Willis' subtle and very funny performance as the owner of a steel mill who can't be bothered to pay attention to his wife (a never better Melanie Griffith).
4 Unbreakable (2000): Take nothing away from Willis' unforgettable work in The Sixth Sense. But this second collaboration with director M. Night Shyamalan features the actor's greatest performance to date. He plays the agonized sole survivor of a train wreck who begins to suspect that he might have superpowers. It's a moving study of a man struggling to hold it together as the life he's known begins to fall apart and reconfigure.
5 16 Blocks (2006): This thriller slipped in and out of theaters with unfortunate speed last year; perhaps many thought it was a routine action picture starring Willis in Solemn Tough Guy mode. In fact, 16 Blocks is cleverly constructed and tightly wound -- the sort of B-movie gem that Hollywood turned out regularly in the 1940s and '50s. It also gave the actor his best role in years, that of a depressed cop who reclaims the fire in his belly when a routine assignment takes a deadly turn.
Willis on Willis
On his favorite of his own movies:
"I think Twelve Monkeys was the best example of Terry Gilliam's time-travel movies. He's made a lot of time-travel movies, but that one was really well-written. It had a great cast. It was just a crazy, outlandish story. To this day, people come up to me and say, 'What does the ending mean? What really happens?'"
On first reading the screenplay for The Sixth Sense:
"I read it and said 'yes' the next day. I was as fooled reading the script -- when I turned from page 105 to page 106 -- as the audience was seeing the film. And I thought, 'If we can even come close to fooling the audience the same way I just got fooled, this will be great.' I called [writer-director] M. Night Shyamalan the next day and I said, 'Yeah, I'm in.'"
On the commercial disappointment of Unbreakable, his follow-up collaboration with Shyamalan:
"Unbreakable was really conceived by Night as part of a trilogy. We shot the origin story. I think in talking to Night about it, after the film came out, he feels maybe we should have shot the middle story first. But I love that film. I loved how it turned out."
On how being a celebrity has changed over the past two decades:
"We certainly live at the height of pop-culture media. People know more about what Paris Hilton is doing today than they know what their congressman is doing today. Twenty years ago, when I started out, I hated the concept of paparazzi and tabloid journalism. I shook my fist against it. But now I accept it as part of the culture. It's not going to go anywhere. It's going to be around forever."
● Added photos of Bruce at the Big Red Book Launch on May 19, 2006 :
● Bruce Willis thinks Amy Winehouse is "amazing". The 52-year-old actor is a huge fan of the singer's latest album 'Back To Black', and is impressed with her hard-drinking exploits.
Willis told Total Film magazine: "Amy f***ing Winehouse! Amazing. She has a f***ing amazing voice! She's kind of like Janis Joplin, hits a bottle of Jack from time to time."
The 'Die Hard 4.0' star also revealed he has an eclectic collection of music, ranging from The Rolling Stones to The Killers, and admits it is his 15-year-old daughter Scout who introduces him to the latest bands.
He explained: "It's weird. I'm getting back into all the music I used to love when I was a teenager, like The Rolling Stones. I'm seeing The Stones in Paris in June. My 15-year-old daughter Scout has got me into The Killers."
● Bruce Willis Eyes Fifth Die Hard
Bruce Willis is already considering making another Die Hard film, just weeks before the third sequel hits cinemas.
The 52-year-old is so pleased with Live Free Or Die Hard - which is being released internationally as Die Hard 4.0 - he wants to make another movie, but only if director Len Wiseman is on board.
He says, "Fox is already talking about another one. I told them I'd only do it if Len is involved."
● Bruce Willis Is The Butt Of His Daughters' Jokes!
Bruce Willis says his children constantly take the "p**s" out of him. The 'Die Hard 4.0.' star - who has three children, Rumer, Scout and Tallulah Belle, with ex-wife Demi Moore - admits he is often the butt of his daughters' jokes.
When asked if his daughters thought he was cool, he replied: "Sometimes, yeah. But they also take the p**s out of me a lot."
Willis, 52, also revealed he has a very distinct interpretation of what it means to be cool.
He added: "Cool is not being cool. The moment you start thinking you are cool or how to be cool, you're f***ed. You're trying too hard - and that's not cool."
● Bruce Willis Warns His Kids About Alcoholism
Bruce Willis and Demi Moore have warned their children they are predisposed to becoming an alcoholic. Die Hard star Willis and Moore divorced in 2000 and have three teenage daughters together.
Willis tells Playboy magazine, "We have an ongoing conversation. They have the gene, and we warn them: 'You have a predisposition to be an alcoholic.' It's on her side of the family and mine. It's something to be aware of. My kids are strongly anti-drug."
● Bruce Willis Talks Ashton & Why He Stopped Reading Tabloids
While some guys might be sent into a fit of jealous rage watching their ex-wife marrying a man nearly half their age, for Bruce Willis, watching Demi Moore enter into a relationship with Ashton Kutcher was a piece of cake, or at least it is now.
In a candid interview with Playboy, the 52-year-old Willis says while it might have been difficult to watch his ex hook up with the then 25-year-old Kutcher at first, Will Smith actually helped him come to terms with the situation.
"During some very dark hours he talked to me about it. He said, 'Dude, you've got to do whatever it takes to get the kids and all the spouses or the girlfriend together. You’ve got to show your kids it's okay.' It was like a light went on. So Will, thanks. And thanks for all those good movies you're making."
In fact, Willis says he is thankful Moore, 44, married a guy like the "Punk'd" master.
"In the luck of the draw I am fortunate to have Ashton in the family. It took a long time for people to wrap their minds around the fact that I could be friends with my ex-wife's new husband, but we are friends. We all go on vacations together. We hang out," Willis told Playboy.
Bruce also talked about his new blockbuster "Live Free or Die Hard," in which he reprises his role as New York City detective John McClane, who this time around takes on an Internet-based terrorist organization who is systematically shutting down the U.S.
And saving the day was never an easy task, and it's certainly not getting any easier now that Bruce is in his 50s. But that's not stopping Bruce!
"People have asked, 'Arent' you too old?' Nobody ever feels their age. In my heart I'm still 25. But I get that little knock every once in a while that says, 'You're not 25, kid.' That little creak you get when you get out of bed in the morning if you sleep wrong."
For many years, Bruce has also been very outspoken against the ever-increasing paparazzi push surrounding Hollywood. And as a high-profile star, Bruce has often found himself a popular tabloid target.
"I've had some of the worst s**t said about me that's ever been said. At a certain point I stopped reading it. I don't let it into my house. I know it's out there, though. We can go to the newsstand right now, and I bet we'll find something being said about me. Gossip has become entertainment; it's a major part of a billion-dollar industry, I know that's what sells, I think actors should be left alone, which of course they never will be," Bruce said.
For more from Bruce, check out the new issue of Playboy when it hits newsstands June 8.
● Check out this clip on accesshollywood.com . Bruce addresses the issue of young Hollywood's party habits and how that pertains to his daughter Rumer and her friend Lindsay Lohan
● Bruce Willis admits that he took a risk when it came to making the fourth 'Die Hard' film.
The 52-year-old, who appears in 'Live Free Or Die Hard' as aging police officer John McClane, revealed that he earlier planned to retire after 'Die Hard with a Vengeance'.
"For a long time, I thought I should just retire the Die Hard series undefeated because they've all done really well," Contactmusic quoted Willis, as saying.
The two-time Emmy Award-winning actor, whose film is due for release this month, insisted that he decided to work in the flick as he is not scared of taking risks.
And now that he's seen it, Willis insists that fans will not be disappointed.
"But you know what? I like taking risks. I like gambling and the potential to fail on this film is certainly there," he said.
After watching the film now, Willis is sure that the film is 'great'.
"But I can look at it now and tell you that it's a great film, it really is," he added.
● Yes, Bruce Willis PL comes back. I've decided to begin a new era for this site. There's still a lot going on with Bruno, so there should be no problem with updating Bruce Willis PL. I will keep you informed about everything about our beloved actor.
I had to set up a completely new gallery to avoid spamming and to enable comments for you guys. That's why for now there are two galleries. All the photo updates mentioned here at the index page will have a result only in the new gallery. I'm going to add older pics as well but it'll take time, so for now to view them visit the old gallery. Both links are on the right.
● Missing content will be added soon, it has to be updated.
● For start I added photos of Bruce attending "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" premiere in July 2006 :
Webmaster: Lucash
Version: 9.0
Online: visitors
Established: December 2000
DISCLAIMER
Bruce Willis PL is only a fansite and is in no way affiliated with Mr. Willis or any of his representatives. All content published here is the property of the authors who hold the respective copyrights. Absolutely no infringement intended. Photos, articles etc are published only for informational purposes.
