Bruce Willis: Our Die Hard Action Hero Returns
by Tom TappAfter flirting with smaller, more squishy roles in recent pictures like “The Assassination of a High School President” and “What Just Happened,” Bruce Willis is returning to action. The 54-year-old actor is interested in a slew of projects that will have him playing a former CIA agent, an FBI informant out to bust up the mob, a detective and both funny and serious cops.
Based on the Wildstorm/DC comics series, “Red” could see Willis playing a retired CIA black-ops badass who is forced to take action when an assassin threatens both he and his girlfriend. The film is being produced by Summit Entertainment, the studio responsible for the “Twilight” series. Willis’s deal has not been finalized, but it could be a sweet one since, as Summit production chief Eric Feig told me a few weeks ago, he sees “Red” as another potential franchise.
Not many fifty-something actors get those kinds of offers.
Willis may also play the lead in ”Scarpa,” about the real life FBI deep cover agent who helped bring down New York’s Columbo crime family from the inside.
He’s also in talks to play a detective on the trail of a murderer in “Inventory,” set for Kevin Smith’s buddy picture/cop comedy ”A Couple of Dicks” and soon-to-be seen in the futuristic actioner “Surrogates.”
That film takes place in a world where housebound humans interact via robotic surrogates. Willis plays (surprise!) a cop who must leave his home for the first time in years to investigate a string of murders. That sounds cool.
It’s interesting to see Willis going back to the kind of roles that made him most popular, much the way Sylvester Stallone has done with Rambo, Rocky and “The Expendables.”
There are very few real action heroes anymore, and even fewer who can maintain their macho into their 50s and 60s.
Alongside Stallone there may only be Harrison Ford and his fictional father Sean Connery. Does Willis have what it takes? Hollywood seems to think so.
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107 Comments
You know, it was obvious back in the days of "Moonlighting" that this guy had whatever 'it' is that makes a star a STAR.
I think along the lines of Connery and Ford – he'll be the one to decide when he's done working. Hollywood still knocks on Connery's door – and he says 'nope'.
(Oh, and at 70 something – he's still on my wife's "Freebie' list. I think Willis will be able to claim the same thing when he reaches that point. )
I picked the neighbor. She was not amused.
Neither was my wife.
Me <;– jealous
Good. I like Bruce Willis and his movies.
OK, I’m ready to duck here…I really liked him in "The Fifth Element" a few years back. What a fun flick. I'd pay any movie price too see him do his stuff again.
It doesn't hurt that he's a Hollyweird conservative out of the closet, (like so many Hollyweird types that post at this site, that’s why it has become my favorite place to “hang out” lately).
Being a film buff all my life, and working within the advertising business since I was a mere yute, it’s good for the soul to have so many of our like minded folks from the underside, (liberal opinion), of the film industry posting here.
Not Over.
But can he get the Fallujah film made?
Hopefully Willis’ return to the action genre will put an end once and for all to these synthetically pumped up professional wrestlers like “The Rock “ who are now getting starring roles in movies.
And you can’t compare today’s muscle heads to Arnold. Although the Governator did star in some stinkers, he had a charismatic presence that the current crop of steroid enhanced “plucked turkeys” completely lacks.
Even in Die Hard, Willis’ character (although a cop) was something of an everyman who finds himself up against what appear to be insurmountable odds (okay, the elevator shaft scene was a little farfetched, but…).
Today, The Rock would just smash through walls and bust heads – The End. Nobody can identify with these freaks that can “kick ass” at the drop of a hat, even if they do include a scene where they’re petting a dog or being nice to a kid.
As long as Danny Glover doesn't play his sidekick, it should be entertaining.
http://the100mostannoyingthings.blogspot.com/
Its interesting that in 2009, the kings of the action genre still are Sylvester Stallone and Bruce willis……I guess it shows what state we are in with "modern" action heroes….
I want to see him play a CIA agent who poses as a movie star. He saves Hollywood by going to his ex-wife's house, and strangling her loud-mouthed dull-normal boy husband. The young moron had recently made a you-tube presentation pledging allegiance to a stealth agent of a foreign power posing as President of the United States. Exciting stuff.
Yes, please! I'll be first in line for that. Lawhawk, you should be running a studio. Seriously though, I want to see Scarpa. I love movies about organized crime.
So what's wrong with smashing through walls and busting heads? Besides The Rock does it so good naturedly, so much so that it gives you that warm fuzzy feeling.
Bruce Willis still trips my trigger even if he is getting a little gray around the edges, where there's still hair that is.
Hinky. Edgy. I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me.
Not Over.
Along the same lines, I like Denzel Washington most of the time. But after "The Siege" I don't want to see them together in a movie again unless they're on the same side. I don't want to see him with that scumbag Glover, ever.
I like Bruce because he's one of the few guys in Hollywood who seems like a normal man. Baby-faced little boys like Matt Damon or pretty-boys like Josh Hartnett or akward geeks like Shia Lebouf simply don't have any gravitas. Bruce Willis does.
Indeed, plus he doesn't seem to take himself too very seriously, which is something I appreciate in anyone.
"The Siege" is an interesting movie, I saw it when it first came out and bought into the whole premise of it, the good Denzel fighting the good fight, exactly as the filmmakers planned. Then 9/11 happened, now when I watch it every so often (have it on DVD) I'm always rooting for Bruce and making sarcastic comments in Denzel's direction whenever he speechifies.
I'd wait in line for a week to see that one, buy tickets for every daily showing and make a day of it.
Agreed. There is nothing worse than an actor who can't take a joke. I think the uber-diva factor is what keeps me from liking Russel Crowe more. I think he's a great actor, but I just have a hard time liking him because everything I've seen about him, he comes across as an a-hole.
Don't duck. "The Fifth Element" is one of my favorite movies of all time. I'd love to see another movie in that setting with him back as Corbin Dallas.
I thought he was outstanding as Butch in Pulp Fiction, and as David Dunn in Unbreakable. He was also very good in the Sixth Sense.
He has come a long way since Moonlighting!
I agree. I never liked Moonlighting, too smug for my taste. Pulp Fiction, on the other hand, was outstanding. I also love Grindhouse even if he wasn't in it much.
I forgot to add his performance in 12 Monkeys. Truly underrated.
Ditto.
.
Good call. He was fantastic in that one.
I thought the freebie list was just supposed to be celebrities. Otherwise you're just begging for trouble IMHO.
Yes he was. I like most of his movies in fact. Hell I'm one of the few people that will admit to loving "Hudson Hawk" in these parts, not to mention "Blind Date" and "Sunset."
A couple of my friends were Pittsburgh cops when they were filming "Striking Distance" there too, they said he was a hell of a nice guy when he was around the police and treated them really well.
Yeah I've heard the same about Crowe and that dampens my enthusiasm for the guy in general, even though like you I think he's a great actor. Sometimes I think the amount of access we have to stars these days compared to in the past is a double edged sword, when you find someone that is a great guy it makes you want to see everything they're in (which is fine) and yet when you find someone that is a total weasel in their personal life it may make you disregard their work, which isn't entirely fair. A bit of a conundrum really.
But in Willis' case, I not only love his work, but think he's a stand up guy too, so one of the rare cases of the best of both worlds.
Put me on the list of those who would stand in line to see that one.
Sigh…I so loved him in Moonlighting!
I'd pay to see that! Then I'd buy the directors cut.
I liked Moonlighting too, but as soon as they kissed I knew it was doomed.
That's what I liked about him in the last "Die Hard." The contrast between him and the kid– he being the guy who has seen everything and can handle anything thrown at him, and the kid being scared of his own shadow– well, it pretty much separates the men from the boys. Willis seems like a grown up in a town of children to me.
Yeah, the show pretty much ended after that as I recall.
My mom actually told me one time, after seeing an interview with Willis about politics, the war, etc. that she was so impressed that she'd pay full ticket price to go see a 90 minute movie of him on stage, on a stool, just drinking Bartles and James coolers and talking about whatever popped into his head. That's it, and it'd be more entertaining than 90% of the movies out there.
Granted she has a crush on him, but hey her point about willing to see him in just about anything still has a lot to be said for it.
Yeah The Rock doesn't take himself very seriously either, which is another reason I like him as well.
Third.
I'm ok with Hudson Hawk, though I wouldn't miss it if I never saw it again. Don't care for the other three.
You're a man of few words.
Hmmm…"Black-Ops CIA movie star…."
I'll get back to you…
If it gets serious, Lawhawk, I'll send you a message. I'm not so good at script, but I do know someone…
A grown up in a town of children is a great way to put it. Look at Hartnet or Justin Long (Die Hard 3) — can you really say that you'd trust these guys with anything important? Or that you'd even want to spend time with them? Bruce, on the other hand, seems like a guy who would have some great stories over a couple of beers.
I agree with everything you said. Great minds right?
Yes.
(Actually, I had to do that to make my prior comment appear.)
I enjoyed "Master and Commander", but Willis strikes me as that neighbor who comes over for beer and a ball game, but gives the meth dealer down the street fits. The dealer guy's car looks like it went through a Cuisinart, and Bruce says, "Who, me? No way, pal." Then he looks toward you and winks.
I like neighbors like that.
And I had to do the "thumb up" and refresh thing to find mine. And what's with this having to sign in about every other post?
Great (and dangerous) minds indeed. LOL
I'm not having the sign in problem. That's a new one.
Just a Hollyweird question I’ve had rolling around in my head for a while on the theme of Willis and all.
How to phrase this…? I take it that most of us appreciate the man, and the actor in what is Willis and what he stands for, (plus box office success), then why is there so many a**holes in Hollyweird that refuse to emulate his success, and insist that they walk the way of the libtard and make those insidious “public service” announcements like the “I Pledge” for the “One”?
I mean, in the end, it has got to be a career ender for them in the long run, since the majority of Americans are center right kind of people and are getting fed up with such BS from the Hollyweird set. Did that make since?
Not Over.
But when it was rolling…WOW! I don't know if actors should like one another or hate each other, but "Moonlighting" was great comedic timing and maybe the nastiness toward each other helped.
BTW: Whatever happened to Cybill Shepherd, anyway?
Yep, I LOVED him in Gladiator but after reading so many stories on what an UBER azz he is I don't really care to see him in anything anymore.
Tom Mix used to be a local legend around here, so I sort of had to like "Sunset." They even used to have a festival for him in the one town here where he lived before heading out to become famous, complete with a parade with cowboys, horses, and sarsaparilla. But that only lasted until I was 8 or so, by then cowboys weren't cool anymore and most people under 40 never saw a single Tom Mix movie in their lives,
Oh and in case you wondered, sarsaparilla really is not good stuff. At all.
I have been having a horrible day – Bruce Willis getting back into tough guy roles is good news, it cheers me up; your joke – that put a smile on my face. Thank you.
What happened to the movie he wanted to do about the Army unit he visited in Iraq? As far back as late 2005, there was talk about his movie as well as Harrison Ford playing General Mattis in a movie about Fallujah. I like Willis and if he got that movie made with out it being just an action flick, I believe it would do well with the public.
(double post to make at least 1 appear)
I only get the sign in thing on certain threads, weird.
This is not at all based on real life, right? RIGHT???
I don't think I've seen a Tom Mix film. . . can't think of one and nothing looks familiar on the IMDB.
Agreeing with you again. Hell Willis is still in such good shape I'd take him into combat with me if he asked…and promised to share some beers and stories afterwards.
And a good time would be had by all…
I think I've maybe seen two in my entire life, they ran them during the aforementioned festival in the old movie palace in town the first few years I went to it as a kid, but somewhere during the festival's run the place got turned into a XXX theater so no more westerns for a dime, yes they actually showed them for the original ticket price too. Now it's a really nice Italian restaurant, go figure.
I thought he was great in Gladiator and in LA Confidential, and I liked him a lot in Master and Commander. But like you, I find it very hard to like him by now and I'm really not all that interested in seeing him in anything anymore.
Ed Harris is another one who I used to really like and then I saw a bunch of interviews with him and he came across as such an as$ that I developed a real aversion to him. Then he added the political garbage.
I think it all has to do with upbringing and who you surround yourself with goodaddy. Look at where most of these morons grew up, right in the heart of hollyweird. Bruce started out as a Bartender and didn't really get discovered until his late 20s or early 30s or so if I remember correctly that is.
(or else)
I'm the same way with Ed Harris, he went from "The Clean Marine" to a barking mad lunatic. I did like "Apaloosa" though, but most of that liking was based on Viggo's performance, not Harris', and especially not Zelwegger's who I thought was extremely weak in it.
So if we came to town and wanted to see a western at this theater, it wouldn't necessarily be the kind of western we might expect? :-O
For most of the '80s (rough guess) no, definitely not. Although you probably would have seen some chaps, but not in a good way.
Maybe it has to do with whether or not you buy into Hollyweird or not.
He didn't buy into Cybill, they hated each other, but he's still here, she's ?
Demi went her way, got a boy toy, went freaky, but Bruce stays steady and calm.
I think Hollyweird is a lot like Congress; hang around long enough as a weak person, and it eats your soul.
If I ever hit it, I intend to stay right here, and phone it in.
I don't like Zelwegger at all.
Not to sound misogynistic, but there are very few actresses these days that I would think of as "strong." Most are entirely interchangeable. Personally, I blame that on Hollywood deciding that the primary requirement for being an actress is T&A, and that everything else is secondary.
Thank God! We will finally have a real tough guy action movie. I am so sick of having the likes of Matt Damon, Ben "AFLAC", and Toby Mcguire being foisted off on us by Hollyweird as "Action Stars".
Willis is a believable action star. I can't imagine Bruce busting into tears because his latte is cold! I could see Damon (or any one of the other metro-sexual liberals that Hollywood calls action stars these days) doing it though!
Man do I really miss John Wayne!
(another double post)
Why am I thinking Village People. . .
"Tears of the Sun" – Great movie, great performance as a Navy SEAL.
Kind of makes you wonder why he ever married Do Me More.
Must have been a week moment for him. What a dingbat she turned out to be.
I think she got old and hollywood canned her. It happens a LOT, especially to older women.
Ditto that.
I can not stand zelwegger and I don't know how she keeps getting any work at all. I have not liked her from the first movie that I saw her in, which was Jerry McGuire. Those weird faces that she makes on top of her weird looks is just too much for me.
Bravo! Bruce Willis is one of the few actors in films today that delivers real action, not nuanced liberal outrage at primitive excesses. Wow! That sounded better in my head than it came out here. Anyway, good show.
Yeah, I'd kinda like that. Fifth Element was pretty watchable.
Bruce Willis! Bravo!! Now that I think of it, instead of that teeny bopper Matt Damon playing Jason Bourne, Bruce Willis should have had it. In the books by Robert Ludlum (Bourne Trilogy), Jason Bourne was written as an aging almost retired, run through the gauntlet , gentleman probably around the same age as Willis. I was expecting that when I heard about the release of the first movie. Imagine my surprise when Damon was announced as having the title role. I thought to myself, "What? 'Bourne Identity Babies?'" The only reason I watched the trilogy on film is my great respect for Ludlum's books. Bruce Willis as Bourne. THAT would have been marvelous!
"If you catch him, just give me four seconds with Saddam Hussein." – Bruce Willis
Great guy, by the way,
and funny too.
Same here! Fifth Element Rules!
Also, if you know an opera fan that you want to tick off, make them watch the blue lady sing–it makes their heads explode. And then they rant for the next 2 hours about the corruption of culture. In other words, Fifth Element is both an action movie & a potentially lethal weapon!
I don't know, when I look around my campus, I see a lot of awkward geeks that look an awful lot like Shia LeBeouf whom I think has the possibility of growing up to be a normal man. Maybe it's the difference between boy & man though.
That said, I can't see LeBeouf being the right type of man to fill Bruce Willis-type roles even once he's old enough to shave.
Here is the only real action hero , go to this link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGQSBd7mSw8
Count me in too, loved 'The Fifth Element'.
The truly divisive Bruce Willis movie is 'Hudson Hawk', which I actually liked. Even though it was crazy, stupid and made no sense, but that's why I loved it.
I'd go see that!
Count me in on that one… to me , 5th element is just one of those "silly sci-fi" movies I love to watch when I just want to relax. (Although I"ve always wondered… why weren't there more traffic jams on those 'streets').
Hey … i'm a Dwayne Johnson, the actor, fan… Okay, so his role in Mummy Returns was not a good start, but he made up for it… losing a battle of wits in "The Rundown' to Seann William Scott made up for it…
I remember that quote.. he took a lot of flak from leftists for saying it.. and as I recall he told the leftists to go screw themselves….
One of the few in Hollywood that is open and loud on his support for the military, I will always support his movies. Now if we could get more like him and Mr. Sinese, I would start going back to the theatre again.
Happy to see BW back in the saddle with more action roles. The current spate of action flicks have been less than satisfying. The best one to come along in many years was "Live Free Or Die Hard." It really redeemed the franchise after DH II & III (c'mon, an ejection seat in a C-130? and a "buddy flick" with Samuel L. Jackson?). I also think that Timothy Olyphant could assume the mantle of action star with a little more seasoning.
As for The Rock, his best movie was "Doom." Not much else to say except I've run into him at a couple of awards shows. Although tall, he wasn't very impressive physically. Just an opinion.
Can't wait for Bruce to get going in action movies again. I still watch the old die hard movies. He like Gary Sinese bring interesting movies and tv to the screen. Can't wait to see him on screen again. Maybe I will go back to the movies again.
i'd like to see Bruce Willis posting at this blog site. his stature in Hollywood makes him immune from a liberal blacklist. i'm sure he's got some interesting viewpoints and anecdotes about the industry.
I recall watching the first Die Hard movie on Cinemax and telling my husband about it. He had a hard time wrapping his mind around Bruce Willis being in this (he thought it should have been Stallone or Arnold). However, once he watched it, he changed his mind right quick.
Primer, I agree with you – I also really miss John Wayne!
Don't feel bad that was a great movie…witty lines and the way Chris Tucker, Willis and Gary Oldman played off off each other was great. Of course Milla Jovovich (hubba hubba) didn't hurt either.
I've always liked Willis (except Hudson Hawk – yuck) and he supports our troops unabashedly.
Yep, I loved "Hudson Hawk" too. So much in fact, I have it on DVD.
"Bunny, ball ball."
Sorry to hear you're having a cruddy day, Bill. Glad to help make it a little better. Chin up, my friend.
Yippee-ki-yi-yo! If tough guy Bruce is on the screen, I am in that theater seat. I have loved him since Moonlighting, and he has never disappointed me.
It is truly amazing what an echo chamber the Drudge Report linked sites are. I'm not saying I don't like Bruce Willis or his movies (quite the contrary – yippee kai yay m*f*kr), but I would bet the farm that if he made a public statement against Rush Limbaugh or any other "conservative" sacred cow, policy, or stand, this whole comment board would be lit up with comments calling him a "libtard", "idiot", "traitor", or worse. Remember what happened when Paul Newman died? Same idea. Makes me wonder if anyone here likes actors who don't share their political views.
Bruce has his own blog- the powers of Big Hollywood should be going on a full court press to have B post on here! It would be awesome, let him say whatever he wants to..
Golly, I hope he plays a freedom fighter struggling in Iraq to blow up US Marines and Iraqi citizens. Otherwise, hollow wood might ban him. Let's also make sure he references 'the one' 20 times per movie or I am not watching!
Hollywood needs more REAL mean. They've all been feminized. We've been lead to believe we should place our security not in strong men, but in big government instead.
Thats the one i want to see.. and SOOON
Ahh, if only t'were true in real life…
You definitely need to read upthread, dink. Lots of people made commentary about Crowe, positive about his acting, negative about his acting out. And nothing about his politics.
For my money, I'd rather have a Willis than the brain trust statist libs that mouth off at a drop of a hat. Demi has her hand so far up Kutchner's a$$ you can see her fingers wiggling when he opens his mouth. Ed Harris made it on the Super Marine character, then he went wheels off. I personally would like Paltrow even better if she would limit her opinions to characterizations and dressing for the Oscars. Most of these people have absolutely no reason to be offering "expert" testimony in front of Congress; they are not biochemists, lawyers, pilots, medically trained, etc. They are people paid exorbitant levels of money to pretend to be those kind of people. Yet, when something comes up to be politically paraded in the press, here comes Hollyweird.
If I ever make it there, I would love to be called to Congress to testify on some character or other I'd written, just to be able to chastise the committee over having non-experts on the subject being granted said "expert" status. Then I would do the same to the MSM for placing such a status on people called to testify on things they either played on stage or wrote about, not actually do to earn their living.
Two things would happen: One: No one in Washington DC would ever bother me about my "opinion" ever again while I lived. Two: I would get great play on the media outlets for several days for my outrage, which would add to my name recognition.
Bruce is a good guy. A former girlfriend of mine used to baby sit his and Demi Moore’s kids. She said both were great.
Sorry. I know this puts me in the minority (again). I've had disagreements with my friends and wife about Bruce Willis, all of whom are fans. As for me, although I am glad Willis is that rare Hollywood commodity — an outspoken conservative — I have never been a major fan of his acting. Mostly because every time I watch him on screen I always catch him, you know, "acting." I see the gears moving. What can I say — there's just something about his style — the manner, that trademark smirk of his, SOMETHING, that feels… false to me.
Some guys definitely do have that "it" quality you were referring to in your post. Harrison Ford. Clint Eastwood. Sean Connery. The late (great) Lee Marvin. These guys are the real deal.
Watch Lee Marvin in THE PROFESSIONALS and then watch Bruce Willis in… well, anything (yeah, even DIE HARD) to see exactly what I'm talking about.
Again, I'm sorry, folks. Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.
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