Bruce Willis

[dragonflie]

Thanks hildymatildy I was wondering the same thing. If my recollection from schooling is correct aphasia is a symptom, a condition to be sure- but not a condition in and of itself- it happens because of some trauma or degeneration.

It really is none of our business, and I am ok not knowing the exact details. I assume the family thought this was a kinder/gentler way of announcing a (potentially) more ominous diagnosis. I wish them all the best- this is a hard one. Die Hard is legit one of my favorite movies. Oh- and Death Becomes Her is a classic that I always love to watch. Willis is great in it.

[Ginger]

I loved Moonlighting. Die Hard is a classic. The Sixth Sense was also a great movie of its time. And Pulp Fiction - Bruce still occasionally wanted to be in good movies back then. He's been coasting for a couple of decades though.

[famvir]

About 4 years ago I had a terrible flu that knocked me on my ass and caused aphasia (that lasted about 5 months). I was on a plane and wanted to ask my husband to get my carryon and umbrella from the overhead. I couldn’t remember any of the words. Not tip of my tongue stuff, but a big hollow hole where the words used to be. There was no work around to find it. No other words I could use. No tricks. It was just gone. I had to relearn all the words. Scary and profound.

[forever1267]

I think the last Bruce Willis movie I watched of any note was maybe The Fifth Element. He had eternal bonus points for Moonlighting, The Sixth Sense, Death Becomes Her and Die Hard (and Color of Night for, er, reasons.... ahem Wink!)

We had an impromptu party in college when SPOILER for 30 Year Old TV show

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}Dave and Maddie finally did it.

Any excuse, right?

He seems to be an alpha male jerk in real life, but Demi Moore and Mila Kunis have a current commercial together (Geico?) and they all seem to get along, which is impressive. And none of the kids have been disasters!

Saddened by this.

[Mutagen]

"Willis the fuck up" also became a complimentary meme on Tom and Lorenzo's blog thanks to this post (looks like the pictures are no longer preserved, but the suit they're referring to is shown here). Very sad to hear this news.

[hildymatildy]

Mar 30, 2022 15:31:36 GMT -4 dragonflie said:

Thanks hildymatildy I was wondering the same thing. If my recollection from schooling is correct aphasia is a symptom, a condition to be sure- but not a condition in and of itself- it happens because of some trauma or degeneration.
I
It really is none of our business, and I am ok not knowing the exact details. I assume the family thought this was a kinder/gentler way of announcing a (potentially) more ominous diagnosis. I wish them all the best- this is a hard one. Die Hard is legit one of my favorite movies. Oh- and Death Becomes Her is a classic that I always love to watch. Willis is great in it.

While I agree it really isn't our business, I just think it begs more questions. I also don't like that it gives people the perception that aphasia is a condition on it's own.

[scarlet]

Big write-up in the LA Times (I'll link, but it's behind a paywall--I'll copy key parts) stating how Bruce's decline/the aphasia seems to have been going on at least back to 2020. Seems like his team tried to hide it as long as possible, but certain instances, particularly the handling of firearms, is very scary and they're lucky no one got hurt:

Just days before Bruce Willis was scheduled to turn up on the set of one of his latest action films, the director of the project sent out an urgent request: Make the movie star’s part smaller.

“It looks like we need to knock down Bruce’s page count by about 5 pages,” Mike Burns, the director of “Out of Death,” wrote in a June 2020 email to the film’s screenwriter. “We also need to abbreviate his dialogue a bit so that there are no monologues, etc.”

...

According to those who have worked with the elder Willis on his recent films, the actor has been exhibiting signs of decline in recent years. In interviews with The Times this month, nearly two dozen people who were on set with the actor expressed concern about Willis’ well-being.

These individuals questioned whether the actor was fully aware of his surroundings on set, where he was often paid $2 million for two days of work, according to documents viewed by The Times. Filmmakers described heart-wrenching scenes as the beloved “Pulp Fiction” star grappled with his loss of mental acuity and an inability to remember his dialogue. An actor who traveled with Willis would feed the star his lines through an earpiece, known in the industry as an “earwig,” according to several sources. Most action scenes, particularly those that involved choreographed gunfire, were filmed using a body double as a substitute for Willis.

...

In one alleged incident two years ago on a Cincinnati set of the movie “Hard Kill,” Willis unexpectedly fired a gun loaded with a blank on the wrong cue, according to two people familiar with the incident who were not authorized to comment. No one was injured. The film’s producer disputed that the incident occurred, but the alleged discharge left actors and crew members shaken.

Burns was one of a handful of people who knew Willis was struggling with his memory, but he said he was unaware of the severity of the actor’s condition until June 2020, when he was directing his first film, “Out of Death.” It was among 22 films Willis did in four years.

“After the first day of working with Bruce, I could see it firsthand and I realized that there was a bigger issue at stake here and why I had been asked to shorten his lines,” Burns said. On that film, Burns was tasked with compressing all of Willis’ scenes — about 25 pages of dialogue — into one day of filming, which he said was exceedingly difficult. At the end of the day, Burns felt conflicted.

Last fall, Burns was offered the chance to direct another Willis film, “Wrong Place,” but he was worried about the actor’s health.

Burns said he called one of Willis’ associates and asked him: “How’s Bruce?” Burns said he was told that Willis was “a whole different person ... way better than last year.” “I took him at his word,” Burns said.

But when they started filming the movie last October, “I didn’t think he was better; I thought he was worse,” Burns said. “After we finished, I said: ‘I’m done. I’m not going to do any other Bruce Willis movies.’ I am relieved that he is taking time off.”

...

Some film directors told The Times that they were startled by Willis’ condition in the last year.

Jesse V. Johnson, who directed the low-budget film “White Elephant,” first worked with Willis decades ago when he was a stuntman. But when the filmmaker and the actor met briefly before shooting began in Georgia last April, “it was clear that he was not the Bruce I remembered,” Johnson said.

Concerned about Willis’ mental state, he said he approached the actor’s team — which is led by his assistant-turned-handler Stephen J. Eads — and bluntly asked about the actor’s condition.

“They stated that he was happy to be there, but that it would be best if we could finish shooting him by lunch and let him go early,” Johnson recalled of the conversation. Filmmakers proceeded to quickly film the actor’s parts, even as Willis questioned where he was: “I know why you’re here, and I know why you’re here, but why am I here?” two crew members said he asked aloud.

...

In January 2020, actress Lala Kent, a star of Bravo’s “Vanderpump Rules” reality show, was cast as the action hero’s daughter in “Hard Kill.” In one scene, Kent said, Willis’ character was scripted to step in and protect her from villains.

“I’m supposed to think my life is about to end, and then my dad steps in to save the day,” Kent said, describing how her back was to Willis in the scene. Willis was meant to deliver a line that served as Kent’s cue to duck before he fired the weapon at a bad guy. Instead, he shot the gun before delivering the line — and the actress was unable to duck.

“Because my back was to him, I wasn’t aware of what was happening behind me. But the first time, it was like, ‘No big deal, let’s reset,’” she said.

Kent said she asked director Matt Eskandari to remind Willis to say his line before firing the gun.

But on the second take, the same thing happened, Kent said. Eskandari did not respond to calls seeking comment, but a second crew member said he remembered Kent being shaken that day. A third crew member, who also was not authorized to comment publicly, said he recalled a situation in which Willis “did fire the gun on the wrong line.”

But the crew member added: “We always made sure no one was in the line of fire when he was handling guns.”

Willis had a large entourage that accompanied him on set, and its members were protective of the actor, according to several filmmakers.

Eads, who began working with Willis as his assistant in the 1990s, served as his on-set handler.

“The guy guided Bruce everywhere,” one crew member on 2020’s “Hard Kill” said of Eads. “He carted him around and kept an eye on him.”

For his work, he is credited as a producer on Willis’ films. In December 2018, Eads entered into a three-picture deal with the now-defunct MoviePass Films for which Eads received $200,000 per picture, according to a contract reviewed by the The Times.

link

[groovethang]

This all makes me so sad 😞

[scarlet]

Mar 31, 2022 11:54:01 GMT -4 groovethang said:

This all makes me so sad 😞

It is. I'm also side-eyeing that his team of handlers had him do 20 movies (20!) in the last four years. It reeks of milking the cash cow for as long as they could.

[petitesuite]

Appalling that he was propped up like that and able to endanger another person’s safety—and for what? Surely he already had enough money and even if he had frittered through it all, surely even if just two or three of these movies would pay for the care he will need (if the numbers in the article are right). This is all so depressing and pointless.