The “knucklehead” career decision that Bruce Willis still regrets
Hollywood offered a collective sense of dejection when Bruce Willis announced his retirement earlier this year, a decision that came to fruition due to his recent aphasia diagnosis. The condition seriously affects the sufferer’s ability to communicate in both the verbal and written sense, restrictions that make the job of an actor near-impossible.
Despite ending his career prematurely, Willis has left an oeuvre brimming with highlights. Whether it be the Die Hard franchise, Pulp Fiction, The Sixth Sense, Moonrise Kingdom or even Looper, the actor has starred in a host of exceptional productions. His career has allowed Willis to work with a cast of lauded actors and auteurs on some of the most celebrated projects in Hollywood.
Arguably, Willis’ most iconic role is as the indestructible cop John McLane in the Die Hard franchise, with the actor adding a host of memorable one-liners and scenes into the canon of popular culture. If not McLane, Willis is hailed for the character of Butch Coolidge in 1994’s Pulp Fiction, a performance credited with ultimately saving his faltering career.
Despite having a string of notable titles to his name, for Willis, there is one that got away. Famously, in 1990, Willis starred in one of the biggest hits of the year, Die Hard 2, but he also had the chance to be in the year’s highest-grossing film, Jerry Zucker’s fantasy romance, Ghost. The movie was so impactful that it was once the third-highest-grossing title of all time, making $500 million at the box office. In addition to the financial success, Ghost was nominated for a string of accolades and claimed two Oscars victories.
In Ghost, Willis had the opportunity to play the role of protagonist Sam Wheat, a position that eventually went to the late Patrick Swayze, which would become one of his defining works. However, when he recieved the script, Willis could not see the appeal, and it would become one of his biggest career regrets. The regret might be compounded because he also starred in one of 1990’s biggest disappointments, Brian De Palma’s The Bonfire of the Vanities.
In 1996, during an interview with The New York Times, Willis explained that he just didn’t understand the movie when he first read the script. “I just didn’t get it,” he explained. “I said, ‘Hey, the guy’s dead. How are you gonna have a romance?’ Famous last words.”
Elsewhere, Willis described himself as a “knucklehead” for turning Ghost down. In another interview, he expanded on his disappointment: “I wish I had not turned down the part that Patrick Swayze eventually played in Ghost. I simply could not see how a romance between a ghost and a living person would work. Duh.”
Willis also expressed that he would have liked to have worked with his then-wife Demi Moore: “Also, it would have been nice to have worked with Demi again”. Despite not understanding Ghost at first, Willis concluded: “I liked that film”.
