The only movie Bruce Willis would never make again: “Dead before it even got out”
Dedicating your life to a career in acting can often mean taking a gamble on the jobs you take, given the lengthy creation process that movies tend to go through. Being one of the most recognisable and highest-grossing action stars of all time could undoubtedly lead to that list of regrets being long. However, for Bruce Willis, there is only one movie he’d never make again.
Starring in over 100 hundred movies, Willis is renowned for his roles as action hero John McClain in Die Hard, Butch Coolidge in Pulp Fiction and Korben Dallas in The Fifth Element. Having retired in 2022 for health reasons and having since been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, he was criticised in the last few years of his career for appearances in many low-budget independent action movies – although this has since been put down to his gearing up for what has been an early retirement marred in tragedy.
Given this – and previous critically panned films such as The Expendables – it would be easy for Willis to have more than a few regrets. However, he makes it clear that the only film he wished he’d never starred in was The Bonfire of the Vanities.
Directed by Brian de Palma, the 1990 effort tells the story of a New York tabloid reporter who whips up a frenzy with his coverage of a high-profile hit-and-run by a Wall Street executive. Featuring Willis as the reporter and Tom Hanks as the executive, the movie should have been set up to do well. However, its adaptation of the 1987 novel of the same name was mired in controversy over its casting and “tone-deaf” reworking of the story.
Speaking to writer David Sheff, Willis explained why he would never do the movie again: “It was stillborn, dead before it ever got out of the box,” he said. “It was another film that was reviewed before it hit the screen. The critical media didn’t want to see a movie that cast the literary world in a shady light.” Given the book dealt with such heavy themes as racism, greed and social class, it wasn’t a surprise that its film adaptation was going to be heavily scrutinised.
Before it was even released, it was levelled with criticism for its casting, with many believing Willis and Hanks had been miscast. And Willis agreed, “But they were right. I was miscast. I know that Tom Hanks thinks he was, too.” This was paired with a change of ending that many deemed as revisionist and heavy-handed, while the comedy overtures of the movie lacked the piercing irony of Tom Wolfe’s novel. The controversy surrounding the film was such that a whole book was written about it called The Devil’s Candy: The Bonfire of the Vanities Goes to Hollywood.
Even Willis seemed to know the great source material had been mishandled, saying, “The movie was based on a great book. However, one problem with the story, when it came to the film, was that there was no one in it for whom you could root. In most successful movies, there’s someone to cheer on.” And, to him, this is even more unforgivable than starting in more than a few bottom-of-the-barrel action films.
