Why did Bruce Willis' career go down the shitter?

I never understood why he didn’t get more praise for his performance in Pulp Fiction.

Why are you starting all these threads, OP?

Because he's a seething pool of evil shaped like an old man.

OP you 'tard, Willis got old and ugly so can't do the roles that made his career. Now fuck off.

I suspect OP is the angry dyke who found these shitter threads ‘misogynistic’.

I thought "down the shitter" was a DL phrase beloved by all?

How many shitter threads have you started, R7?

Because he's an arrogant, inveterate asshole who's aged out of the sexy smooth wry guy who singlehandedly takes on an army of bad guys and their minions.

And like many former A-list, top line actors these days, he's too vain to play Grandpa roles, even a sexy smooth wry guy Gramps.

R6 is homophobic against lesbians. He loves Republican straight men and women just fine, though. Sad.

FLACCID!

VERY questionable anal hygiene but I would have back in the day.

R6 is the only person I have blocked. Zhe hates lesbians who won’t fuck transwomen.

He made lots and lots of films - of varying degrees in quality. As to why his career went downer the shitter in the last tens, well most peoples careers have due to the changes in the industry. Bruce Willis is not alone.

One reason is that he hates doing the publicity thing for big films that is always needed and can also be a nightmare on set. I remember watching an interview he did for RED and he was so rude to the interviewer and spoke of how he hated doing junkets. That is not going to help. It’s like do movies you are proud of I guess? He came across as an arsehole.

He’s a very one note actor. He basically plays the same part in every film. His ego as well as any ill Shepherd’s, ruined MOONLIGHTING, which was a very charming show.

He was involved in some racial incidents as a teen that would rival Mark Wahlberg’s. I read that in a PEOPLE Magazine end of year almanac. It only appeared once. I think that his PR people had it scrubbed.

His movies are mainly atrocious. PULP FICTION was an ensemble piece so he didn’t really carry the film by himself. And IMO it is one of the most overrated films I’ve ever seen.

Because he's an asshole.

I heard he is despised by the below the line crew in Hollywood. Not only arrogant but stupid enough to alienate the people he needs to maintain a career.

bad plastic surgery. possibly steriod overuse.

too much committment through too many roles in the "action hero" mould, which fails to challenge an actor and becomes more and more difficult to maintain as one gets older.

lost his humour and his sparkle. is very dour now, partially due to role but partially due to some change in how he plays these repeated "having a gun makes me tough" types.

he would have done much better to continue mixing up his "tough guy" routine with his "sensitive, smart, funny" guy routine, which really was his better half.

In addition to being an all-around asshole, he also suffers from delusions of grandeur and/ or has too much money to actually work as an actor any more: he refuses to learn any lines, and has for decades now. Apparently if he's going to do any kind of part, he either demands that someone feeds him his lines via an earpiece, or holds up cards with the lines off camera.

Marlon Brando just about got away with that in his Superman role. Willis is no Marlon Brando.

R20 - yeah, too much money and too arrogant. Plus he's old and still considers himself an action star and a hunk.

And he says a lot of stupid shit - remember when he begged President Bush to let him go into Iraq with the troops? Yeah, right - like your 50 year old ass is going to save the day.

He's a dick and a prime example of 1980's toxic masculinity. It's a masculine attitude that thankfully has fallen out of fashion. Tom Cruise also adopted this and can't seem to let it go.

Isn’t he a Trump lover?

At least Nicholas Cage still gets his name first on the poster in his crappy movies.

Looking at Willis’ IMDb, he’s getting billed second to actors like Jesse Metcalfe, Chad Michael Murray, and Nicky Whelan.

Because he committed the worst crime an actor possibly can — he got old.

I wonder what the experience of "Misery" onstage was like for those around him.

Because he went straight up mine.

[Quote] Because he committed the worst crime an actor possibly can — he got old.

Meryl Streep got old. Ditto Glenn. They're doing fine, they send their love.

Homophobia. Once it became known that Bruce was sugar daddy to Hollywood, the bigots closed in!

R27 Old women are different than old men, they're still marketable. Besides, Meryl and Glenn both aged well. Bruce is fat and bald with visible wrinkles. Also Bruce Willis ain't no Meryl Streep in terms of acting chops.

[Quote] Old women are different than old men, they're still marketable.

Clint Eastwood was still playing lead roles when he looked like a skelton. Connery got up there as well.

*skeleton

The Aaron Carter stories are a lot of fun, but I think the real reason Bruce gave him a million dollars worth of gifts, etc was to "buy" him as a playmate/possible boyfriend for his ugly and untalented daughters.

I agree r2.

[Quote] The Aaron Carter stories are a lot of fun

Da fuck!?

He got bald.

[quote]I heard he is despised by the below the line crew in Hollywood.

I have a very good friend who has worked closely with him on many films. They like him a lot.

Although I have heard stories about how difficult he can be.

In person, he comes across as very smug.

He wants maximum checks for minimum efforts. The not learning lines is well known.

You've got to be kidding R34.

He's a good comic actor. People may not give him enough credit--he brought a lot of personality to the DIE HARD franchise that saved it from being another routine action flick. (The first movie remains very entertaining all this time later, thanks also to Alan Rickman.)

He's not the man of theatre he claimed to be. (A friend saw him 1000 years ago as a replacement in Shepard's FOOL FOR LOVE, of all things, but has no clear memory of his acting.) His turn in MISERY was an embarrassment. He simply didn't know his lines or how to create a compelling performance. Laurie Metcalf is the soul of discretion but I can only imagine what a nightmare that experience was for everyone involved.

Not untalented. But arrogant, entitled, and lazy.

His singing won’t win any prizes either.

I started to loathe him during the final seasons of Moonlighting, after his head swelled from his Die Head success. He came across so arrogant in interviews, and besides The Sixth Sense and that Wes Anderson boy scout film I hadn’t cared for anything he had done since the show ended.

Having said that, I thought he came across well during the Comedy Roast event last year. Especially the back and forth with Cybill, which was sweet despite the viciousness of some of the jokes.

Oh dear God what was Tina thinking? Here's bruce sing-screaming, inexplicably wearing a dew rag and a halter top.

Ooops forgot link

What goes up the shitter must eventually go down.

He was good in Pulp Fiction but that annoying French cunt girlfriend character negated any possible praise for Bruce's acting.

He got old and lost his looks. He has several projects in development, most sound like stinkers.

He certainly liked to show off his ass and cock.

Yeah, he is a failure.

Maybe he made a shit ton of money and doesn't care to make movies anymore and wants to spend time with his family.

Maybe he caught a bad case of Demimooriasis

Lousy actor, lousier human being.

The very first time I saw him was in the pilot episode for 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑇𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑍𝑜𝑛𝑒 (1985), 'Shatterday.' Probably the last thing I tolerated him in was 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑇𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 (2007), which I watched in spite of him, not because of him.

I've never found him attractive. Nor have I ever run back a tape to look at his anything. And once it became evident that he's a deplorable, I've stopped watching anything he's in.

R49 he's still working. he's just making crap.

He's excellent in 5th Element (1997) as is Jojovich. Willis was already going to seed but he was still sexy.

He came across as smug.

Because he is an asshole. A friend on mine worked with him and Billy Bob Thornton and a film set years ago, and he told me BBT was really cool. Just a nice and laid back guy to be around. He was not as impressed by Bruce. Apparently, he is a moody shit who mostly treats people on the film set as inferiors if he acknowledges them at all.

Yes R54. But that was 25 years ago

I really don't think he's aged that badly, but he made a mistake of going down the action movie leading man route where you're basically retired at 50. He didn't take many chances or risks and just seemed to stop caring after awhile. His best work is in stuff like Death Becomes Her, The Sixth Sense, and Blind Date. He definitely had talent at some point, but maybe he felt like he proved what he had to prove and has been phoning it in ever since. The fact that he didn't even attempt to memorize his lines for Misery is pathetic and very unprofessional.

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Haha, OP! I loved "Moonlighting"! And just today I put "The Return of Bruno" (12" vinyl) in the trash! I enjoyed "The Jackal," though the original is much better. Otherwise, cannot abide BW anymore, not his smirk, not his baldness, and definitely not his politics.

perfect stranger".

co starring Halle Berry.

Actually, that movie with Jane March probably signalled the shitter.

In Death Becomes Her when he is offered the potion to be forever young, I was hoping he would drink it and we would see Bruce become buff, young, and strong again.

He was never young in front of the camera? The balding made him instantly late 30s.

R20 you know why they get lines fed by an earpiece and then blame the script for being shit? They can’t remember their goddamn lines. They get old and in addition to that actors aren’t generally known for their intellect or learning capability. He’s an old fart who can’t remember his own name half the time and can’t remember two lines if one of them isn’t hello.

[quote]And like many former A-list, top line actors these days, he's too vain to play Grandpa roles, even a sexy smooth wry guy Gramps.

He's sixtysomething years old and still playing the father of teenagers. Liam Neeson, too. These guys could have teenaged grandchildren.

[Quote] Old women are different than old men, they're still marketable.

I'd say it's the other way around.

I wouldn't say that Bruce Willis's career has gone down the shitter.

He's 65 and has been working steadily for 35 years. Over 70 films now - some of them pretty massive. He's getting on now and obviously can't keep going forever.

Never liked him. Still don't.

From the Hollywood Reporter review of his new film:

The production notes inform us that the unimaginatively titled Hard Kill was filmed in a mere ten days, making you wonder how they spent eight of them.

R58 - I thought James Caan starred in Misery???

Willis played James Caan's role in a Broadway adaptation of Misery.

Didn't Bruce get kicked off of The Expendables because Sly couldn't stand him?

He does shitty movies, most recently being his remake of Death Wish.

Was with him in an elevator once. He is 4’11” in lifts.

He has three adult daughters who are useless and have never worked a day in their lives but live the LA lifestyle. He has to keep making shitty movies for the paychecks.

R71 If that's supposed to be his "tough guy" look, he really missed the mark. It just looks like he has dementia and forgot where he is.

I don't know why he doesn't retire. He's set for life and then some.

He diddled the Carter kid and ruined him.

He got old, bald and unattractive.

He has dementia.

That should be enough.

Demi is an enabler.

Bruce Willis has been divorced fro Demi for 20 years and has a younger newish wife. Demi is a nutjob too but not responsible for Bruce r81.

Bruce fucked that Carter kid (among others) and helped create the train wreck Aaron is today.

Bruce got old and the "sexy" is long gone.

Bruce also suffers from early dementia. He is well managed.

These are just a few things that helped flush his career.

Like Mel Gibson, stick a fork in it.

I've only heard the Aaron Carter stuff on DL. Carter is such a raging nutcase with no filter, I think he would've spilled the beans by now if it had really happened.

Willis gave Aaron Carter a Bentley among other very expensive gifts.

It's all in the court records from Aarons' suit to emancipate himself from his grifting mother.

It was all covered here . Are you new?

Odd that Aaron hasn't talked about it.

Didn't Aaron Carter defend Michael Jackson, though? Carter was a child star. It's in his DNA to play the public/media, even while clearly suffering from drub abuse and mental instability.

I was waiting for someone to talk about the rumor that he has dementia (allegedly due to years of cocaine use).

*drug abuse

Didn't Willis take Zac Efron under his... wing?

Never found him attractive at all, he's bland. But his best role was in Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys.

I think everybody got a turn on Zac Efron's ass. Remember when he spent a weekend "riding motorcycles" with Tom Cruise?

R90 - 12 Monkeys was Brad Pitt's best movie too.

R92, completely agree. I was surprised by how good he was.

Didn't Kevin Smith say how disappointed he was when he met Bruce Willis. He also did a lot of box office bombs. The only movie I've ever really liked him in was Sixth Sense. That new Death Wish looks stupid.

Ah, maybe, just maybe because he is a shit actor

He was good in "Nobody's Fool," opposite an aging Paul Newman. But I think he was tolerable because the part was rather small and the character largely incidental to the main plot.

I’m glad there was a shout-out for Willis’ work in Death Becomes Her. He really was terrific - actually they all were - but he really gave a great comedic performance. .

It’s a shame the film was such a schized-out mess: a terrific first half followed by a wtf second half. I keep hoping they’ll come out with some sort of restored director’s cut, but most likely any attempt was unsalvageable - given this version is all there has ever been.

R96 his character is kind of important. he's a counterpoint to Newman the "loser" and the loser males around Newman. One can see why Melanie's character would have married the hot fucker winner/operator, but he was a jerk, so one could see her tempted to be with a good old loser like Newman.

I really can’t see him fucking AC. Not to mention all the gifts. Are there other twinks?

I think because he lost his hot body. He looked atrocious in his nudes pics from the beach.

To each his own R97. I prefer Death Becomes Her’s bottom half!

Speaking as a top, I would've have presented him my hole during his Moonlighting days.

Didn't "Death Becomes Her" have a whole Willis subplot with Tracey Ullman? I wonder if the negative was burned/melted down.

Probably. It was released on Blu-ray last year which would have been a perfect opportunity to include the alternative ending with Tracey.

R103 is correct. Not just and alternate ending but an entire subplot w/Tracey Ullman.

Moonlighting was such a groundbreaking show back in the day. It doesn't get enough credit for how much it changed the format of scripted series.

Interesting that Bruce hated being the wisecracking character and Cybill hated having to be sidelined with all the dramatic moments.