May 22
'12
Bruce Willis: “Mitt Romney is just such a disappointment, an embarrassment”

I’m not going to pretend that Bruce Willis’s Esquire cover story for the June issue is a laugh-a-minute. Bruce Willis is not a good interview. At all. And Esquire’s Tom Chiarella (a writer who has done some of the worst & bitchiest profiles for Esquire, but who also did that Liam Neeson sob-fest) makes that very clear by spending too much time writing about Bruce’s bathroom trips (he pees five times in two hours) and pear-eating (he eats five pears in two hours). Bruce agreed to the cover story because he has five movies coming out this year: Moonrise Kingdom, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, The Expendables 2, The Cold Light of Day and Rian Johnson’s Looper. And he’s currently filming the fifth Die Hard, of course. Now, Chiarella does make an excuse for Bruce’s lack of humor, personality and interest – the interview took place just a few days before Bruce’s wife Emma Heming gave birth, and he obviously wanted to be with her and not sitting down with Esquire. Bruce says, “All I want right now is to be with her, to stare at her belly.” Which is kind of cute, until you realize that he’s using that as an excuse to not give a good interview. You can read the full piece here, and here are some highlights:

On the latest Die Hard: “I’d call it what it is: Die Hard 5.” But he gets no say, so this time John McClane will live through A Good Day to Die Hard… No matter, he says. “I’m glad to have John McClane. There is no turmoil about it for me. I eschew turmoil. I just try to go to work, and concentrate on coming home to my girls.”

He isn’t into drama: “I don’t have an ax to grind,” he says. “I don’t have anything I want to say. I might have gone off once. I might have started in — Hollywood! With the ‘tough town, tough business, tough life.’ Generating a little context for me and my turmoil. But I don’t have a tough life. I know that… I’m happy. Actively happy. I eschew turmoil.”

Working with Wes Anderson in Moonrise Kingdom: He’s surprisingly great therein, although he claims he’s not an actor. “I don’t think I’m very good at it,” he says of acting. “But I like doing it, and a guy like Wes, even he’d say this movie was outside the body of his past work. And that was me. So I listened to what he was saying, and we got the work done.” As a sheriff and a kind of childless father, Willis plays the first-ever full-blown-adult Wes Anderson character to possess a true moral compass, one stripped of eccentricity, contrivance, fetish. Likable and unself-conscious, Willis quietly out-acts Anderson’s usual stable of pajama-wearing accents, unclipping real human kindness from the sherbet palette of the film, treating said kindness without pride, like something you might find in a desk drawer. “Storyteller,” he says of Anderson. “The movie is a kind of eternal children’s story. The kids adventure, the adults worry. But it’s a brand-new creation, and it felt very unusual to me.”

The gym: Willis details nothing about the workout, calling it only “the gym.” He’s going back at 4:00. The gym. It’s not a requirement. “That’s just me,” he says. “I’m coming off a phase where I allowed myself baked goods. I sought them out. I did not hold back on baked goods. So, the gym… The day this job gets tough will be the day I can’t run. The day I can’t move quickly or knock somebody out — at least look like I knocked somebody out, convincingly. There is a limit. An end point. It’s mostly physical. So, the gym.”

On politics: “I get cranked up, I start talking about Hollywood and what’s wrong with what. Or politics. I might start in on Mitt Romney.” Romney? “Yeah, Romney. He’s just such a disappointment, an embarrassment. Chin up, hair up. He’s just one of those guys, one of those guys who says he’s going to change everything… And he’ll get in there, and they’ll smile at him and introduce themselves: ‘We’re Congress, we make sure nothing changes.’ He won’t do it. He can’t. Everybody wants to be Barack Obama. And what did he change?” You think Romney’ll win? “No. Nah. I don’t really care.”

Bruce’s fun times: “Now I’m fun, just with fewer people. I’m in love with my wife and my kids. I require very little. Friends come over, the kids come over when they can. We eat dinner. And I’m happy to play along with their momentum. I save it for them. This is it. I’m happy. This is how I’m doing. That’s my fun.”

His favorite movie: “I like a little movie I did in the early nineties called Mortal Thoughts. The part was hardly written, but I learned a lot making it. No one remembers it.”

What he misses: “Every once in a while I want to go to a diner. I want to go to Junior’s. Or Nate ‘n Al’s. A good, cheap diner. That’s an East Coast thing. Like the rice pudding in New York. So good. Only in diners. I search for it here, but it’s not the same. Though there’s a place on Fairfax. I can’t think of the name.”

Parenting rules: “Sometimes I have to resist the urge to speak. I learned it from dealing with my kids. That’s my number-one rule. It applies in life… But it’s more about being a father. I’d rather hear what they have to say. You learn more by listening. And this stuff is just a matter of not equating drama with actions that will help them. Teach them to shun drama.”

More rules: “Take responsibility for when you are wrong… They hear you own up, and they learn to own up….You have to give them a code… Beginning with things like ‘Don’t bite people.’ That becomes something like ‘It’s not okay to be mean. Ever.’ That was our watchword when the girls were younger.” Willis’s fifth element: “I make them laugh. You gotta do the drool-take, gotta make them see that goofiness is still safe. You have to make them laugh at you.”

[From Esquire]

He comes across as… I don’t even know. I was going to say tightly-wound, but I don’t think that’s right. Like, he’s hyper-conscious of how he puts himself out there, extra-careful about any public statement. Other movie stars are like that too, of course, but they’re not this obvious about it. Still, I like Bruce’s parenting rules and I liked what he said about getting to the point where he might not be able to do physical roles anymore. Maybe he’s a completely different person in real life. He would have to be, wouldn’t he?

Photos courtesy of Esquire.

Written by Kaiser

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Posted in Bruce Willis


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51 Responses to “Bruce Willis: “Mitt Romney is just such a disappointment, an embarrassment””

  1. gee says:
    May 22, 2012 at 7:38 am

    I didn’t think it was too bad an interview.. we at least got to get a glimpse into what he is like instead of the usual publicist fed bs we get from interviews. Maybe I’m biased, he is one of my favorites.

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  2. BerMan says:
    May 22, 2012 at 7:40 am

    I like him.

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  3. Neelyo says:
    May 22, 2012 at 7:46 am

    Interesting that he chose MORTAL THOUGHTS as his favorite film. Demi Moore produced that one and starred in it. Willis only has a small part and the focus of the movie is on Moore and Glenne Headley. Good little film that didn’t go anywhere. Too bad too because Moore actually gives a good performance in that one.

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  4. Marjalane says:
    May 22, 2012 at 7:53 am

    Romney’s an embarrassing disappointment? So were your last ten movies, champ.

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  5. birdy says:
    May 22, 2012 at 7:54 am

    I think he was choosing his comments carefully so he couldn’t give the interviewer a segway to ask about (and have the interview about) all the Ashton/Demi stuff that was in the press all the time then.

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    • Maguita says:
      May 22, 2012 at 9:15 am

      I absolutely agree. His words were carefully picked, and he tried not to give too many details. However, his

      “Teach them to shun drama.”

      In regards to his kids, is quite hard seeing how their mother is Demi Moore. Demi who gave the clear illusion of victimizing herself and yearning for her cheating ex’s attention, in a very dramatic and public display of emotional instability.

      I remember seeing her daughters crying, and Rumor looking very lost for a while there. Poor kids. At least their dad sounds stable and loving.

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  6. Boo says:
    May 22, 2012 at 7:58 am

    I like him, too. He doesn’t seem to be all bull$hitty or anything. He has charm, even and especially if he isn’t falling all over himself trying to be charming.

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  7. spugzbunny says:
    May 22, 2012 at 8:13 am

    I like him and that man is hot. Climb him like a monkey up a coconut tree.

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  8. Esmom says:
    May 22, 2012 at 8:26 am

    I actually liked the interview. He does seem a little cautious…but what normal celeb wouldn’t be? Especially with what was happening with Demi.

    I like what he said about listening to his kids. I’m finding, with my two sons who are nearing their teens, that I love when they get talking about their lives because it’s happening less and less these days. I cling to every tidbit I can get — and if I talk too much they clam up.

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    • Meecey says:
      May 22, 2012 at 9:09 am

      Agree w u 100%! My 18 yr old son and I talk alot. You have to listen to them and if you do they will come to you.
      As for Bruce, love him, have since Moonlighting! I even love the bald which I used to hate. But it looks great on him!
      Can’t freakin wait for DH5!!!!!!!!!!

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    • The Other Katherine says:
      May 23, 2012 at 4:51 am

      Yeah. I never cared for Bruce when he was a young man, but I’ve warmed to him a lot as he’s matured. He seems like someone who makes a real effort to be a good parent, not just to look like a good parent while getting papped. And part of that is not talking smack about your kids’ mama any more than you can help; I’ve not heard one bad word about Demi coming from this guy. Taken together, that all says a lot about this guy.

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  9. NYC_girl says:
    May 22, 2012 at 8:42 am

    I always liked him. My girls and I had a major crush on him when he was in “Moonlighting.” Watch him in that if you can. My aunt and uncle met him before he hit it big – I think he was a massage therapist or worked at their gym? And I really want to see “Moonrise Kingdom.” I saw the clip of it when I saw “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” and it looked wacky. “Royal Tennenbaums” is one of my all-time favorites.

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  10. Darlene says:
    May 22, 2012 at 9:02 am

    I bet he’s a great dad.

    Also, he’s SMOKIN’ HOT. He shows the young ones how it’s done.

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  11. Chatcat says:
    May 22, 2012 at 9:06 am

    I like Bruce…I have a soft spot for him because he is what I consider a hometown boy (grew up just across the river in NJ from me). I though it was a good interview, cautious, but good.

    He is a bit full of himself but who in Hollywood is not? Actually he is probably in the minority of being not as full of himself as most, but he is also in the minority in Hollywood of being a Republican and a moderate as well.

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  12. TheOriginalKitten says:
    May 22, 2012 at 9:15 am

    If this were a Jennifer Aniston interview everyone would be screaming about how vapid and dull she is. Not to bring JA into it, just pointing out the usual double standard.
    I think Willis comes across as really distracted, uninterested and just very boring. If you don’t care about who wins the election then why bring it up? The interviewer sucked too. When he said “I start talking about Hollywood and what’s wrong with what” the interviewer should have asked him what he meant. Now THAT could have been interesting. Anyway, I’ll give him a pass this time just because he had a little baby on the way and probably didn’t have his head in the game.

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  13. Jordan says:
    May 22, 2012 at 10:22 am

    I like Bruce but this was a boring interview. He seemed to be throwing out sentences without expanding on them to explain the point he was trying to make. I don’t believe that he was being cautious so he wouldn’t be asked about Ashton/Demi because it would have been very simple for his publicist to ban those questions. What interviewer is going to defy Bruce Willis? Look at the man!

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  14. some bitch says:
    May 22, 2012 at 10:32 am

    I didn’t mind this interview. He does come across as reserved, but I like that. He seems pretty down to earth. He doesn’t try to come across as some impressive intellectual and he doesn’t talk out his ass re: politics. Good for him.

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  15. Aqua says:
    May 22, 2012 at 10:36 am

    He’s still one of my ultimate kick ass kind of guy.I think he’s very much at peace with himself and where he is in life right now.

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  16. hmmmm..... says:
    May 22, 2012 at 11:49 am

    Bruce ia one of my favorite people on the planet and this just adds to the fact that he’s STILL HOT and knows what’s important in life.

    Way to go Bruce! Love you!

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  17. ceenitall says:
    May 22, 2012 at 11:50 am

    He still makes my panties fall off.

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  18. Raven says:
    May 22, 2012 at 11:57 am

    5 pears in 5 hours? He’s obviously a stress eater who’d rather have the baked goods he’s talking about. He’s clearly focused on his wife’s impending birth.

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  19. garvels says:
    May 22, 2012 at 1:36 pm

    Just another over compensated star being politically cool. If I were an agent, I would tell my clients to avoid politics at all costs because the country is so divided. If you support either a Democrat or a Republican you could potentially reduce your fan base by 50%.

    I, like many others really have nothing in common with the celebrity life style, so why should their political opinions be of any value to the regular folks. They should just focus on acting,singing,dancing,modeling or whatever they do to make money. The majority of these so called stars never even attended college.

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  20. logan says:
    May 22, 2012 at 2:43 pm

    true enough Bruce. What are we going to do, what are we going to do? Kind of like going to the prom. You want to go, Obama is the only one who ask. Do you stay home or do you go with Obama just to say you went to the prom?
    I think they (politicians) are all alike. Once the camera’s are turned off they have a group hug and laugh at the idiots (us) they represent. They all say “How can I get more money in My pocket?”

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  21. Jayna says:
    May 22, 2012 at 3:26 pm

    I hate him in live TV interviews, though. He is deliberately so soft-spoken these last ten years, and it is absolutely annoying. It’s like you have to lean forward to follow his conversation.

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    • flower says:
      May 22, 2012 at 6:21 pm

      I think that’s the point Jayna, if a person is soft spoken you have to pay attention and concentrate to catch what they’re saying. A pity politicians didn’t do more of it. The louder and faster they are the more it sounds like prepared sound bites or bluster. I had a very soft spoken aunt, she wasn’t the smartest or the most successful person in the family but she was the one people listened to most.

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  22. Journey says:
    May 22, 2012 at 4:01 pm

    man just doesn’t feel like he has to jump through hoops any more. he has five movies coming out, he’ll probably have five more coming out next year, he has his family, he has enough money to make king midas jealous. so the idea of sitting there for five hours with a journalist probably wasn’t his idea of a fun afternoon. the five bathroom breaks were probably just an excuse to get away and call his wife.

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  23. Kim says:
    May 22, 2012 at 6:01 pm

    HAHAHA! Pot calling kettle. A man who made a career off bad action movies, is a has been, only dates women half his age, married someone his daughters age, is almost a sr citizen and just had a baby!

    Im embarrassed for him.

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