Hollywood star, Bruce Willis, 67, whose family announced Wednesday he had received the brain disorder diagnosis, had been exhibiting signs of decline on set in recent years, nearly two dozen sources concerned about his well-being told the Los Angeles Times.
Willis predicament alarmed movie staffers two years ago when he twice misfired a gun loaded with a blank — and last year perplexingly asked what he was doing on a film set, per reports.
Directors were forced to reduce his roles due to ‘heartbreaking’ battle with aphasia.
Lala Kent, the star of Vanderpump Rules who played Willis’ daughter in Hard Kill, recalls that the action hero unexpectedly fired a gun on the wrong cue twice during filming in 2020.
‘I’m supposed to think my life is about to end, and then my dad steps in to save the day,’ she told the Los Angeles Times, explaining that she had her back to him during the scene and was supposed to duck after he delivered his line but before he fired the gun.
No one was injured in the incident, and the film’s producer and armorer say it didn’t happen.
Last April, Willis also openly questioned what he was doing on the set of the upcoming low-budget film White Elephant.
‘I know why you’re here, and I know why you’re here, but why am I here?’ two crew members recall him asking.
Kent says she took things in her stride after Willis’ first misfire on the set of Hard Kill in 2020.
‘Because my back was to him, I wasn’t aware of what was happening behind me. But the first time, it was like, “No big deal, let’s reset,'” she recalled.
She asked director Matt Eskandari to remind Willis to say his line before firing, but it happened again.
Two other crew members confirmed that Willis fired the gun on the wrong cue, with one adding, ‘We always made sure no one was in the line of fire when he was handling guns.’
However, Randall Emmett, who founded Emmett/Furla Oasis and has worked with Willis on 20 films, says Willis didn’t fire a gun prematurely. The movie’s armorer also denies that the incident happened.
Willis, 67, is retiring from acting after he was diagnosed with aphasia, a brain condition that affects his ability to understand language, his family said in an Instagram post Wednesday.
