(Credits: Walt Disney Pictures)
Thu 23 October 2025 16:43, UK
Hollywood has a habit of throwing up stars who will shine across a certain period, making it their own and colouring our vision of it forevermore. Cinema in the late 1980s wouldn’t have looked quite the same without the influence of Bruce Willis, who starred in some of the most iconic movies of the era.
Capable of charismatic action roles and complex dramatic ones too, Willis was the perfect package for the eclectic world of cinema at the turn of the new millennium. He had chutzpah as well as a certain malevolence to his portrayals that would allow you to be enchanted and feel protected by him. No easy feat. Cracking a joke while cracking some skulls is a real skill.
Cinephiles will also recognise Willis for his turn in Quentin Tarantino’s Palme d’Or winner Pulp Fiction, where he starred as Butch Coolidge alongside the likes of Tim Roth, Uma Thurman, John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson and Christopher Walken. Helping to make Tarantino’s film utterly unforgettable, Willis’ appearance helped to bring the whole thing together into a snappy, violent caper.
Speaking about his love for Willis, Tarantino once named the actor’s greatest-ever performance, picking out his role in the M. Night Shyamalan sci-fi thriller Unbreakable, where the director stated: “It has Bruce Willis’ best performance on film that he’s ever given…He’s absolutely magnificent in the film”.
A lover of more than just the performance, Tarantino said of the film: “It’s also a brilliant retelling of the Superman mythology…You can break down what the film is about in one sentence: what if Superman was here on Earth, but didn’t know he was Superman”.
(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Shortly before he worked on back-to-back projects with Shyamalan, however, Willis appeared in the bombastic Michael Bay movie Armageddon in 1998. Starring with such famed co-stars as Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Owen Wilson and Steve Buscemi, Willis played the lead role, a deep-core driller tasked with landing on an asteroid the size of Texas in order to save the planet.
Although Armageddon was only his first experience working with the notorious director Michael Bay, known for his love of cinematic explosions and scantily-clad female supporting actors, it would also be his last, with the film leaving a sour taste in Willis’ mouth.
It was during an interview regarding The Expendables 2 in 2012 that Willis would reveal his thoughts on the director, stating: “Few people will work with him now, and I know I will never work with him again.” It was a serious proclamation, but it fits in with what is known about Willis. Ever the professional, he was clearly happy to move past the issues to get the job done, but wouldn’t bring himself down to having to work with him ever again. “It was a great crew, but a screaming director does not make for a pleasant set experience. But look, we were all big boys, and we got through it”.
There is obviously another tragedy with his comments. A decade later, the choice of whom he would work with was sadly removed. Willis has since retired from life on the silver screen, having been diagnosed with dementia in 2023.
The news was met with tributes from across the world of cinema, with fellow action movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger stating: “I think that he’s fantastic. He was, always for years and years, is a huge, huge star. And I think that he will always be remembered as a great, great star. And a kind man. I understand that under his circumstances, health-wise, that he had to retire. But in general, you know, we never really retire. Action heroes, they reload”.
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