The one role Bruce Willis always dreamed of playing: “I’ll stay good”
Culture seems obsessed with making people choose metaphorical Mount Rushmores. Four people who epitomise any given genre of whatever subject is in question. It got me thinking, who would be on the Mount Rushmore of 1990s action movies?
It was undoubtedly the best decade for the action movie. Trashy, far-fetched and almost always predictable, they were the cinematic equivalent of a good pizza. One that abandons all Italian culinary etiquette and instead rams on every variation of fatty topping, because, why not?
And amidst these Hollywood film studios, where the debris of mild and controlled explosions sprayed across the lot like clockwork, there were a string of silver screen titans who could be found with either the finger on the trigger or their hands on the pliers, saving the world with the swift snip of a red wire.
Tom Cruise didn’t become perhaps the biggest movie star in the world from starring in indie flicks. No, he was a titan of the action film and so secured his spot on the genre’s Mount Rushmore. Cut from a similar cloth was Keanu Reeves, who regularly smouldered in the face of fire-fuelled peril, while Jackie Chan reinvented the modern martial arts action. But alongside them all is one man who starred in my favourite of the decade, and that is, of course, Bruce Willis.
His turn as John McClean in the Die Hard series arguably defines the concept of an action-packed leading man and even comes with its own catchphrase: “Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!”
The repeated use of that phrase, across all of culture, meant that it was somewhat easy to forget Willis possessed the sort of acting chops that extended beyond the realms of explosions and gunfights. Pulp Fiction and 12 Monkeys proved there were more strings to his bow, and he was keen to display that.
“I always thought it would be more fun to play bad guys,” Willis explained in a 2013 interview. This was at a time in his career when he was entering his twilight, and before the sad realities of his health condition took a grip, gave some hope that he could perhaps scratch the shapeshifting itch.
While he admitted he may have missed the boat, it was one 2012 film and performance in particular that lit a fire of inspiration within him. A year prior to his statement, Javier Bardem had just delivered a truly captivating performance in Skyfall, becoming one of the best Bond villains in history.
“I tried it a couple of times but it really wasn’t as much fun as I thought it would be so I’ll stay good,” Willis explained, before referencing a Bond opportunity, “Unless there’s a James Bond villain offer. That last movie really renewed my love for 007.”
It was the sort of performance that would inspire anyone to take a villainous turn. Bardem’s character was more than just an antagonist with his finger hovering over a detonation button. He challenged Bond’s moral compass by being somewhat of an emotional adversary, changing the future outlook of how cinema portrayed evil.
