As Bruce Willis announces his retirement due to cognitive disease, a decade of D-list movies starring the beloved actor finally makes sense.
After being diagnosed with aphasia, a type of brain damage that impacts the ability to communicate, Bruce Willis’ family posted a joint statement on his social media announcing his immediate retirement from acting.
“To Bruce’s amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experience some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities.
“As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him.”
“This is really challenging time for our family, and we are so appreciative of your continue love, compassion and support.
“We are moving through this as a strong family unit and wanted to bring his fans in because we know how much he means to you, as you do to him.
“As Bruce always says, ‘Live it up’ and together we plan to do just that.”
In 2012, Bruce Willis featured in acclaimed films, Moonrise Kingdom and Looper and it seemed like the actor’s career had gained a second wind. Sadly, this foray was short-lived, and despite Glass and Death Wish, Willis’ career has been in steady decline, with generic action-fuelled films like A Good Day to Die Hard and Red 2, which both failed at the box office.
Between 2010 and 2022, Willis opted for direct-to-video projects churned out by director/producer Randall Emmett. These films problematically would advertise Willis’ involvement on the posters but would only feature the actor for minimal screen time – this marked the rise and now fall of the once box-office hit actor, who in the last several years has made 29 films, 23 of which were never screened in cinemas.
In 2013, Sylvester Stallone described Willis as “greedy and lazy” after he offered the actor $3 million for three days’ of work on Expendables 3, when Willis requested $1 million more. Tragically, it seems that Willis may have been attempting to capitalise on what he knew to be a dwindling career due to impending cognitive decline.
His work alongside Randall Emmett only evinces this fact who, according to industry website Vulture, has a sure-fire system for mass-producing straight-to-video movies that leech on the pull of veteran stars. Emmett reportedly pays actors such as Nicholas Cage, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, and Steven Segal $1 million for a couple of days’ work and minimal screen time and uses them on the posters to secure international distribution deals.
It is an unfortunate resolve for such a beloved Hollywood figure in the context of his decline in health. Willis’ will remain a legend for his iconic films, like Die Hard, The Sixth Sense, Twelve Monkeys, Pulp Fiction, and Unbreakable to name only a few of the slew of movies to which he brought his rugged, ironic, tough-guy charm.
One more time for Bruce, “yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!“.
