I mean, damn, in the 90's, Bruce was one of the biggest things on earth, 20 mil $ per movie. What happened? I mean it's impossible to stay on top for your whole life and many big name actors had their ups and downs, but it seems that excluding very few big name movies over the last like 15+ years, he's been only in like Z grade crap in like 5 movies each year. I wish he came back with something better
shareno, it's what happens when you keep making crappy movies. your value as a star goes down. it happened to Arnold and Nic Cage.
sharethings change
shareHe got old. Come on man its not that hard to figure out...smh.
shareThat can't be the whole answer though. There are plenty of stars who get older and remain in demand and hold onto their dignity. Look at actors like Sean Connery, Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood.
shareBecause the three you mentioned picked age appropriate roles. Connery never tried to be something he wasn´t and was also selective about the roles he chose, so he retained his star power. I don´t believe Bruce Willis has followed the same path.
shareSean Connery, Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood ... not really.
He stopped caring and only took jobs for the money.
shareI think this is probably the bulk of it. He stopped caring about the art and I think largely has lost interest in moviemaking.
I think he's getting paid well to show up for maybe three days of filming in these direct-to-video movies and phone in his performance, and so he's found a way to keep money coming in without having to put a lot of effort into it.
That's likely enough for him, as his interests lie elsewhere.
He just got greedy. And there's been stories about how he's unpleasant to work with.
shareI'd read this a lot too. Maybe he got tired/bored with everything that goes in to film making. People can change. It's a shame for us, because he was good at it, and an attraction for being entertaining. Now, I just see him in something and know it is garbage to avoid. Weird, but, it is his life to live. :)
shareHe should join the MCU or a superhero franchise. Get some goodwill restored. Imagine him as the voice for Ben Grimm/Thing! That could be fun.
shareNo. He got lazy. He figured out he could stay rich by doing B-movie's where he could film all his scenes in a day or two and still make millions.
sharenah. but why put in weeks of shooting, spending time learning your lines and have top put effort in for 4 million.
When you can get paid 1-2 million for 2 days of shooting, have your lines read to you in an earpiece and largely just sit down in your scenes.
He got old, he got lazy, he had flops, he made enemies.
Don't underestimate the effect of the last on his late career, he's rumored to be a monumental pain in the ass to work with, the highest level of dickhead, and that can have an affect... particularly when you're on the way down. When an actor is rising and flying high and making money for everyone, they're never called on their shit, but people remember. All those producers and directors Willis might have joked about, all the PAs and ADs he insulted or screamed at because he had to wait 30 seconds for his coffee, well, some of them are now in a position to give all the good roles and second chances to someone else.
BTW that's one of the reasons Keanu Reeves has had such a long career, and came back from so many flops, he's good to work with. He gets second, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 10th chances, when the likes of Willis do not.
That's a good point! Keanu has had his string of bad movies but he keeps getting another chance.
Another actor who reportedly was terrible to work with is Edward Norton. Now he's nowhere to be found.
Yeah, Norton has a very bad reputation and I can see why nobody's working from him, but he also comes from big family money. He doesn't need to work.
Mike Meyers is another who's reported to be a monumental PITA, and who was on top of the movie world for a while with a string of hits... and whose career vaporized when the money train had engine trouble. Russell Crowe, too, he was everywhere and made trouble everywhere he went then he punched a bigwig suit at an awards ceremony, and then he was unemployable for a while. Why don't more actors learn from Keanu's example?
It's genetics.
No, seriously. It's super hard to be able to climb up in Hollywood to be a big star. Most often than not they need to stand for themselves to not being absolutely taken advantage by greedy producers and what not. Sometimes they need to make enemies to be able to survive let alone bursting into stardom.
And when that you're finally on top of the world, I guess it'd be extremely hard to not being an asshole to everyone that stomped you on the way up. It takes a huge power of restraint to not be consumed by revenge.
It's basically a multi-million dollar college hazing.
I don't think that payback assholery is the problem, I think people get these reputations because they get to the top and they're horrible to everyone... particularly the "little people" on crew and their staff. They get to the top and think a little about maintaining the good relationships that could keep their career going during a slump, but a lot more about gratifying any evil impulse they've ever had, now that they're in a position to get away with it. So they fire, scream at, sexually harass, overrule, or disrespect people they work with, and when the scales tip again, well. It's payback assholery time.
I always wonder about people in these rough industries who are rumored to be nice all the time, like Keanu and Dolly Parton, you can't do business and be nice all the time! I presume that they have someone around who's paid to be an asshole on their behalf, that is one of the things agents get paid to do...