Bruce Willis is a wanted man. Nearly twenty-three years removed from his star-making turn as John McClane, he remains an action icon. When Sylvester Stallone began assembling his brothers in arms for The Expendables, Bruce’s name was at the top of the list. However, unlike some underemployed stars of the throwback actioner, Bruce’s full schedule limited his involvement in the box office smash to a high profile cameo with Arnold Schwartzenegger. Stallone has revitalized his career in the last four years by revisiting the Rocky and Rambo franchises that made him a star. Bruce’s star has never faded.
While his career is studded with wide-audience driven fare such as Armageddon and the Die Hard franchise, Bruce Willis has continued to show depth as an actor. Yet, even while stretching his chops beyond action flicks, he has continued to be a box office force, claiming nearly three billion dollars in gross domestic receipts. Critically acclaimed films such as Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, the science fiction thriller Twelve Monkeys and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense have contributed significantly to that total.
Early this year, RED began shooting in New Orleans. Based on the graphic novel, RED is the story of Frank Moses, a former CIA operative forced out of retirement when his former employers target him for elimination. Bruce plays Moses, who assembles his old black-ops team, played by Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich, for a mission to break into CIA headquarters to uncover a conspiracy. After beginning principle photography by shooting interiors in Toronto, RED relocated to New Orleans, shooting key exterior locations including St. Vincent’s Guest House as a retirement home, a chase sequence on North Peters St at Decatur and the swamp hideout of Malkovich’s character, Marvin Boggs. Early looks at the film reveal Bruce at his best in an all out action caper reminiscent of his most famous film franchise. RED hits theaters October 15, where it looks to continue Bruce’s, and Louisiana’s, trend of box office dominance.
After finishing work on RED in New Orleans, Bruce began work on Catch .44 in Shreveport, starring as the crime boss of a motley crew consisting of a psychopathic hitman, a grizzled trucker and a delusional line cook. The indie drama balances leading man Bruce with three beauties (Watchmen’s Malin Akerman, Twilight’s Nikki Reed and True Blood’s Deborah Ann Woll) that he cajoles into joining his syndicate. While Bruce Willis’s calm authority are an obvious casting match for a crime boss, the slightly off-kilter concept places Catch .44 amongst his most interesting projects.
With Catch .44 recently wrapped, Bruce Willis will again be in Louisiana to work on director Rian Johnson’s next film Looper in New Orleans, where he will co-star with Inception’s Joseph Gordon Levitt. With Looper and rumors that he’ll be filming Kane & Lynch in Louisiana as well, Willis’s career seems to be as resilient as the characters he portrays. One thing’s for sure: Bruce’s bright shining star will die hard.
