Rian Johnson
Johnson in March 2012.
Born	Rian Craig Johnson (1973-12-17) December 17, 1973 (age 38) Maryland, United States
Occupation	Director, producer, screenwriter
Years active	2005 – present

Rian Craig Johnson (born December 17, 1973) is an American writer and director, who won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival with his debut feature, Brick.^[1][2][3]

Background[link]

Johnson was born in Maryland. He was raised in San Clemente, California, and attended the high school where Brick was predominantly filmed. He then attended the University of Southern California and graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 1996.

Johnson's film career, as told to Robert K. Elder, author of The Film That Changed My Life was largely inspired by Annie Hall, "a film that broke so many rules in terms of film narrative":

It moved me in a way that very few other films have moved me. That’s something that, I pray to God, if I am able to keep making movies, I can only hope, twenty years down the line maybe, I’ll be able to approach.^[4]

In addition to his film work, Johnson is also a folk singer and banjoist. Some of his songs can be found on his website.

His brother is well-known music producer Aaron Johnson. His cousin, Nathan Johnson, composed the score for Brick and The Brothers Bloom. Rian and Nathan make up a folk duo called The Preserves. Other cousins, including Zachary and Marke Johnson, have been involved in design and illustration work relating to Rian's films.

Film career[link]

[edit] Brick

Made for just under $500,000, Brick is a crime drama starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Johnson has often said that he looked to the novels of Dashiell Hammett as inspiration for the film's unique use of language. While the film is classified as a film noir, Johnson claims that during production no references were made to film noir so as to focus the production away from reproducing a genre piece. Brick was released on DVD by Focus Features.^[5]

[edit] The Brothers Bloom

The Brothers Bloom, Johnson's second film, is a con-man story starring Mark Ruffalo, Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, and Rinko Kikuchi. The Brothers Bloom was released in theaters in May 2009, and later on DVD by Summit Entertainment.^[6]

[edit] Looper

Looper, Johnson's third film, began shooting in Louisiana on January 24, 2011^[7] and is currently in production. Set in the near future, it has been described as dark sci-fi, and involves hitmen that are sent their victims from the future.^[8] The film will star Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, and Paul Dano.^[9]

Other projects[link]

Johnson directed the video for The Mountain Goats' song "Woke Up New" in 2006. He is a professed fan of the band, and was asked to direct the video when bandleader John Darnielle noticed a reference to them in the credits for Brick: a song is credited to "The Hospital Bombers Experience," which is a reference to the Mountain Goats song titled "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton." Johnson also directed a live performance film of the Mountain Goats' 2009 album The Life of the World to Come. The film consists of a single shot, depicting Darnielle performing the entire album on guitar and piano with minimal accompaniment. This film was screened in New York City, Chicago, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon upon its completion, and was released as a limited edition DVD on Record Store Day (April 17, 2010).

Johnson has made a number of short films, some of which are available on his website. His short film from high school titled Ninja Ko is available as an easter egg on the Brick DVD. The Brothers Bloom DVD features a short, Buster Keaton-esque silent film he made in college. After working with Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Brick, the two shot a short film in Paris titled Escargots. In 2002, he directed a short film titled The Psychology of Dream Analysis, which is available to view on his Vimeo account.^[10]

In March 2010, Johnson announced on his website that he was directing an episode of the TV show Breaking Bad for its third season. This is notable in that it is his first time professionally directing a script he did not write, which he has stated many times he had no interest in when it came to film.^[11]

Johnson has also directed an episode of TV show Terriers that aired during its first (and only) season.^[12]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Video on Vimeo
• Rian Johnson at the Internet Movie Database
• Rian Johnson at AllRovi
• Rian Johnson on Twitter
• Article on Johnson and the making of Brick
• Brick Review at RockTag.us

Rian may refer to:

• Rian, a solo album, released in 2005 by an Irish musician Liam Ó Maonlaí
• RIA Novosti, a Russian state-owned news agency

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Jason Reitman
Reitman at the 2008 Screenwriting Expo
Born	(1977-10-19) October 19, 1977 (age 34) Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor
Years active	1998–present
Spouse	Michele Lee
Parents	Ivan Reitman, Geneviève Robert
Relatives	Catherine Reitman
Website
http://www.myspace.com/yourpaljasonreitman

Jason Reitman (born October 19, 1977)^[1] is a Canadian/American^[2] film director, screenwriter, and producer, best known for directing the films Thank You for Smoking (2005), Juno (2007), Up in the Air (2009), and Young Adult (2011). As of February 2, 2010, he has received three Academy Award nominations, two of which are for Best Director. Reitman is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States.

Early life[link]

Reitman was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada,^[1] the son of Geneviève Robert, an actress sometimes billed as Geneviève Deloir, and comedy director Ivan Reitman. He has two younger sisters, Catherine, an actress, and Caroline. His father is Jewish and was born in Czechoslovakia to Holocaust survivors, and his mother is Christian and of French-Canadian descent.^[3][4][5] When he was still a child, his family moved to Los Angeles.^[6] His father, Ivan, directed the successful films Ghostbusters, Stripes, and Kindergarten Cop. Jason described his childhood self as "a loser... a movie geek... [and] shy."^[7] In the late 1980s, Reitman began appearing in small acting parts and serving as a production assistant on his father's films. He spent time in the editing rooms of his father's movies, learning the process. Throughout his 20s, instead of accepting offers to make commercial feature films, Reitman began making his own short films and directing commercials. Although he was offered the opportunity to direct Dude, Where's My Car? on two separate occasions, he declined.^[7]

Reitman graduated from the Harvard-Westlake School in 1995; Reitman was a high jumper in High School.^[8] Reitman went on to major in English/Creative Writing at the University of Southern California.

Film career[link]

Reitman at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival

In 2005, Reitman's first feature film Thank You for Smoking opened. Reitman developed the Christopher Buckley novel into a screenplay and, eventually, a film. The film was a commercial and critical success. It grossed over $39 million worldwide by the end of its run, and was nominated for two Golden Globes. After the success of Thank You for Smoking, Reitman mentioned in an interview that his next film would be adapting another book (a "white collar satire") into a film. He also mentioned that he had plans to work with Buckley again on an original project.^[9] Although the first of these projects would eventually become Up in the Air, this second project has not come to fruition.

His second film, Juno, generated great buzz after it premiered at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival^[10] and was released in December 2007. It received tremendous critical acclaim (it was Roger Ebert's favorite film of 2007) and received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Ellen Page's performance as the title character, Diablo Cody's original screenplay, and Reitman himself for Best Director. Reitman did win other awards for his work on Juno, including Best Director at the 2008 Canadian Comedy Awards; he was also honored with the "Cinema for Peace Award 2008 for Most Valuable Work of Director, Producers & Screenwriter". The film thus far has grossed over $140 million at the U.S. box office, making it the largest success of Reitman's career and more successful than any of his father's films since Kindergarten Cop.^[11] Brad Silberling was originally attached to direct the film, but he dropped out over casting differences.^[12] Reitman was in the middle of writing a screenplay when he came on board to direct Juno and, at one point, he expressed intent to finish writing and to direct this screenplay.^[13]

In March 2006, Reitman formed the production company "Hard C Productions" with producing partner Daniel Dubiecki. The company had an overall deal with Fox Searchlight Pictures, the company that distributed Reitman's first two films. Reitman described his production company's goal as being to produce "small subversive comedy that is independent but accessible".^[14] Reitman states that he and Dubiecki "want to make unusual films, and anything that turns a genre on its ear".^[15] Through Hard C Productions, Reitman is set to produce and direct Banzai Shadowhands, a comedy about "a once-great ninja who is now living a life of mediocrity". Shadowhands will be written by The Office's Rainn Wilson. Reitman met Wilson on the set of his father's film My Super Ex-Girlfriend, in which Wilson had a supporting role.^[14] No start date for filming has been set, and it is unclear as to whether or not Wilson is finished with the script.

Hard C Productions produced films The Ornate Anatomy of Living Things and Jennifer's Body. Anatomy has been written by Matthew Spicer and Max Winkler, and will revolve around "a Gotham bookstore clerk who discovers a museum devoted to his life".^[16] Jennifer's Body, a horror comedy, was written by Diablo Cody and starred Megan Fox. It revolved around a cheerleader who is possessed by a demon and starts feeding off the boys in a Minnesota farming town.^[15] In 2009, Reitman left Hard C to form Right of Way Films.

In 2001, the year the novel Up in the Air was published, Sheldon Turner discovered the book and wrote a screenplay adaptation, which he sold to DreamWorks in 2003. Jason Reitman later came upon the novel (initially attracted by the Christopher Buckley blurb on the cover) while browsing in the Los Angeles bookstore Book Soup.^[17][18] Reitman persuaded his father Ivan Reitman to purchase the book's film rights, and the elder Reitman commissioned a screenplay from Ted and Nicholas Griffin, who used some elements from Turner's script in their own work. Jason Reitman then developed his own screenplay, incorporating some of the elements from the Griffins' script that had (unbeknownst to Reitman) originated with Turner. Some of Turner's inventions that were utilized in the final film include Ryan's boilerplate termination speech ("Anyone who ever built an empire or changed the world sat where you're sitting right now..."), a key plot point involving a suicide, and the character of Ryan's partner (written by Turner as male).^[18][19]

Reitman initially attempted to claim sole credit for writing the film, and later admitted to being confused when the Writers Guild of America ruled that he should share credit with Turner. He and Turner later appeared at a WGA event where both said they were happy to share credit now that the course of events, and Turner's contribution to the final product, had been made clear.^[18][19]

In the spring of 2009, Reitman directed Up in the Air starring George Clooney. Up in the Air is based on a novel written by Walter Kirn about a corporate downsizer who travels from city to city and is fanatical about collecting his ten millionth frequent flier mile. The film features real-world characters cast from the ranks of the recently downsized. "Hidden within a film that seems to be about corporate termination and the economy is a movie about the decision whether to be alone or not," noted Reitman,"^[20] in an interview conducted just prior to the film's nationwide release. Sheldon Turner and Reitman's Up in the Air screenplay won the Golden Globe Award for best screenplay in 2010.

Reitman also executively produced the erotic thriller Chloe, theatrically released by Sony Pictures Classics on March 26, 2010.^[21] Reitman helped persuade Amanda Seyfried to star in the film.^[22] The film had enjoyed commercial success and became director Atom Egoyan's biggest moneymaker ever.^[23]

Other work[link]

Reitman at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

Before his feature film career began, Jason Reitman wrote and directed six short films. He financed his first short film, "Operation", with money he made by selling ads in desk calendars. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998.^[24]

He was a guest on The Howard Stern Show on April 10, 2008; when he was asked if he would direct Ghostbusters III and cast Howard, he said "Do you know how many times I get asked if I want to do Ghostbusters III? Looking at my career so far, I mean, if you just looked at my two films, I would make the most boring Ghostbusters movie. It would just be people talking about ghosts, there wouldn't be any ghost-busting in it." Stern, a friend of Ivan Reitman, also revealed that he had seen Jason's early short films and was impressed enough to offer him the opportunity to direct an episode of Son of the Beach (a TV series he produced, a goofy parody of Baywatch), which Jason declined, citing that he was busy obtaining financing for Thank You for Smoking at the time.

Reitman produced and directed the 2007 holiday season commercials for Wal-Mart with advertising agency Bernstein-Rein. He has also directed ads for Burger King, Nintendo, BMW, and Buick.^[24] In television, Reitman directed two episodes of The Office entitled "Local Ad" and "Frame Toby". Reitman also directed a three-part pretaped sketch for the NBC show Saturday Night Live called "Death By Chocolate," about a walking candy bar (played by episode host Ashton Kutcher) who murders people (stabbing a homeless man, shooting a doctor, cutting off a life support machine on a coma victim, and slicing Andy Samberg [dressed as a lumberjack] with a chainsaw).

Personal life[link]

In 2004, he married writer Michele Lee,^[25] with whom he co-wrote the 2004 comedic short "Consent."^[26] Reitman filed for divorce from his wife in June 2011.^[27]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jason Reitman

• Jason Reitman at the Internet Movie Database
• Jason Reitman at MySpace
• Interview with Jason Reitman about JUNO at the Telluride Film Festival, September 10, 2007
• EyeForFilm.co.uk - interview with Jason Reitman about Thank You For Smoking and Juno
• Ubben Lecture at DePauw University; March 15, 2010 (includes video clips)
• Jason Reitman's Guest DJ Set on KCRW

Bruce Willis
Willis at the San Diego Comic-Con International, July 2010
Born	Walter Bruce Willis (1955-03-19) March 19, 1955 (age 57) Idar-Oberstein, State of Rhineland-Palatinate, West Germany
Other names	W.B. Willis Bruno
Occupation	Actor, producer, musician
Years active	1980–present
Notable work(s)	Die Hard, Pulp Fiction, 12 monkeys, Armageddon, The Jackal, The Sixth Sense, Over the Hedge
Spouse	Demi Moore (1987–2000) Emma Heming (2009–present)
Children	Rumer Willis, Scout Willis, Tallulah Willis, Mabel Willis

Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a German-born American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles. He is well known for the role of John McClane in the Die Hard series, which were mostly critical and uniformly financial successes. He has also appeared in over sixty films, including box office successes like Pulp Fiction (1994), 12 Monkeys (1995), The Fifth Element (1997), Armageddon (1998), The Sixth Sense (1999), Unbreakable (2000), Sin City (2005), Over the Hedge (2006) and Red (2010).

Motion pictures featuring Willis have grossed US$2.64 billion to 3.05 billion at North American box offices, making him the ninth highest-grossing actor in a leading role and twelfth highest including supporting roles.^[1][2] He is a two-time Emmy Award–winning, Golden Globe Award–winning and four-time Saturn Award–nominated actor. Willis was married to actress Demi Moore and they had three daughters before their divorce in 2000, following thirteen years of marriage. He is currently married to model Emma Heming, with whom he has one daughter.

Early life[link]

Willis was born in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany. His mother, Marlene K., was German and born in Kaufungen near Kassel, and his father, David Willis, was an American soldier from Southeastern Idaho of English ancestry.^[3][4][5] Willis is the oldest of four children: he has a sister, Florence, and a brother, David. His brother Robert died of pancreatic cancer in 2001, aged 42.^[6] After being discharged from the military in 1957, Willis's father took his family back to Carneys Point, New Jersey.^[7] Willis has described himself as having come from a "long line of blue collar people";^[7] his mother worked in a bank and his father was a welder, master mechanic, and factory worker.^[8] Willis attended Penns Grove High School in his hometown, where he encountered issues with a stutter.^[7] He was nicknamed Buck-Buck by his schoolmates.^[8][9][10] Finding it easy to express himself on stage and losing his stutter in the process, Willis began performing on stage and his high school activities were marked by such things as the drama club and student council president.^[8]

After high school, Willis took a job as a security guard at the Salem Nuclear Power Plant^[11][12] and also transported work crews at the DuPont Chambers Works factory in Deepwater, New Jersey.^[12]

After working as a private investigator (a role he would play in the television series Moonlighting as well as in the 1991 film, The Last Boy Scout), Willis returned to acting. He enrolled in the drama program at Montclair State University, where he was cast in the class production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Willis left school in his junior year and moved to New York City.^[4]

After multiple auditions, Willis made his theater debut in the off-Broadway production of Heaven and Earth. He gained more experience and exposure in Fool for Love, and in a Levi's commercial. Willis also played a lead role in the off-Broadway production Bullpen for four years which was written and directed by Dennis Watlington that was also presented at Joseph Papp's Public Theater.

Career[link]

Early career[link]

Willis at the 61st Academy Awards, 1989

Willis left New York City and headed to California to audition for several television shows.^[4] In 1984, he appeared in an episode of the TV series Miami Vice, titled "No Exit".^[13] He auditioned for the role of David Addison Jr. of the television series Moonlighting (1985–89), competing against 3,000 other actors for the position.^[14] The starring role, opposite Cybill Shepherd, helped to establish him as a comedic actor, with the show lasting five seasons.^[7] During the height of the show's success, beverage maker Seagram hired Willis as the pitchman for their Golden Wine Cooler products.^[15] The advertising campaign paid the rising star between $5–7 million over two years. In spite of that, Willis chose not to renew his contract with the company when he decided to stop drinking alcohol in 1988.^[16]

One of his first major film roles was in the 1987 Blake Edwards film Blind Date, with Kim Basinger and John Larroquette.^[7] Edwards cast him again to play the real-life cowboy actor Tom Mix in Sunset (1988). However, it was his then-unexpected turn in the film Die Hard (1988) that catapulted him to movie star status.^[7] He performed most of his own stunts in the film,^[17] and the film grossed $138,708,852 worldwide.^[18] Following his success with Die Hard, he had a supporting role in the drama In Country as Vietnam veteran Emmett Smith and also provided the voice for a talking baby in Look Who's Talking, as well as its sequel Look Who's Talking Too.

In the late 1980s, Willis enjoyed moderate success as a recording artist, recording an album of pop-blues titled The Return of Bruno, which included the hit single "Respect Yourself",^[19] promoted by a Spinal Tap–like rockumentary parody featuring scenes of him performing at famous events including Woodstock. Follow-up recordings were not as successful, though Willis has returned to the recording studio several times. (See Discography below.)

1990s[link]

Willis acquired major personal success and pop culture influence playing John McClane in 1988's Die Hard. This film was followed up by Die Hard 2: Die Harder in 1990 and Die Hard with a Vengeance in 1995.^[7] These first three installments in the Die Hard series grossed over US$700 million internationally and propelled Willis to the first rank of Hollywood action stars.

In the early 1990s, Willis's career suffered a moderate slump starring in flops such as The Bonfire of the Vanities, Striking Distance, and a film he co-wrote titled Hudson Hawk, among others. He starred in a leading role in the highly sexualized erotic thriller Color of Night (1994), which was very poorly received by critics, but did well in the home video market and became one of the Top 20 most-rented films in the United States in 1995.^[20] In 1994, he had a supporting role in Quentin Tarantino's acclaimed Pulp Fiction,^[7] which gave a new boost to his career. In 1996, he was the executive producer of the cartoon Bruno the Kid which featured a CGI representation of himself.^[21]

He went on to play the lead roles in Twelve Monkeys (1995) and The Fifth Element (1997). However, by the end of the 1990s, his career had fallen into another slump with critically panned films like The Jackal, Mercury Rising, and Breakfast of Champions, saved only by the success of the Michael Bay-directed Armageddon which was the highest grossing film of 1998 worldwide.^[22] The same year his voice and likeness were featured in the PlayStation video game Apocalypse.^[23] In 1999, Willis then went on to the starring role in M. Night Shyamalan's film, The Sixth Sense. The film was both a commercial and critical success^[7] and helped to increase interest in his acting career.

2000s–2010s[link]

Willis after a ceremony where he was named Hasty Pudding Theatrical's Man of the Year in 2002

In 2000, Willis won an Emmy^[24] for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on Friends (in which he played the father of Ross Geller's much-younger girlfriend).^[25] He was also nominated for a 2001 American Comedy Award (in the Funniest Male Guest Appearance in a TV Series category) for his work on Friends. Also in 2000, Willis played Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski in The Whole Nine Yards alongside Matthew Perry. Willis was originally cast as Terry Benedict in Ocean's Eleven (2001) but dropped out to work on recording an album.^[26] In Ocean's Twelve (2004), he makes a cameo appearance as himself. In 2007, he appeared in the Planet Terror half of the double feature Grindhouse as the villain, a mutant soldier. This marks Willis's second collaboration with director Robert Rodriguez, following Sin City.

Willis has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman several times throughout his career. He filled in for an ill David Letterman on his show February 26, 2003, when he was supposed to be a guest.^[27] On many of his appearances on the show, Willis stages elaborate jokes, such as wearing a day-glo orange suit in honor of the Central Park gates, having one side of his face made up with simulated buckshot wounds after the Harry Whittington shooting, or trying to break a record (parody of David Blaine) of staying underwater for only twenty seconds.

Willis at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

On April 12, 2007, he appeared again, this time wearing a Sanjaya Malakar wig.^[28] His most recent appearance was on June 25, 2007 when he appeared wearing a mini-turbine strapped to his head to accompany a joke about his own fictional documentary titled An Unappealing Hunch (a wordplay of An Inconvenient Truth).^[29] Willis also appeared on Japanese Subaru Legacy television commercials.^[30] Tying in with this, Subaru did a limited run of Legacys, badged "Subaru Legacy Touring Bruce", in honor of Willis.

Willis has appeared in four films with Samuel L. Jackson (National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Pulp Fiction, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and Unbreakable) and both actors were slated to work together in Black Water Transit, before dropping out. Willis also worked with his eldest daughter, Rumer, in the 2005 film Hostage. In 2007, he appeared in the thriller Perfect Stranger, opposite Halle Berry, the crime/drama film Alpha Dog, opposite Sharon Stone, and marked his return to the role of John McClane in Live Free or Die Hard. Recently he appeared in the films What Just Happened and Surrogates, based on the comic book of the same name.^[31]

Willis was slated to play U.S. Army general William R. Peers in director Oliver Stone's Pinkville, a drama about the investigation of the 1968 My Lai Massacre.^[32] However, due to the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, the film was cancelled. Willis appeared on the 2008 Blues Traveler album North Hollywood Shootout, giving a spoken word performance over an instrumental blues-rock jam on the track "Free Willis (Ruminations from Behind Uncle Bob's Machine Shop)". In early 2009, he appeared in an advertising campaign to publicize the insurance company Norwich Union's change of name to Aviva.^[33]

Willis at a Live Free or Die Hard premiere in June 2007

Willis starred with Tracy Morgan in the comedy Cop Out, directed by Kevin Smith and about two police detectives investigating the theft of a baseball card.^[34] The film was released in February 2010. Willis appeared in the music video for the song "Stylo" by Gorillaz.^[35] Also in 2010, he appeared in a cameo with former Planet Hollywood co-owners and '80s action stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film The Expendables. Bruce Willis played the role of "Mr. Church". This was the first time these three legendary action stars appeared on screen together. Although the scene featuring the three was short, it was one of the most highly anticipated scenes in the film. The trio filmed their scene in an empty church on October 24, 2009.^[36] His most recent project was Red, an adaptation of the comic book mini-series of the same name, in which he portrayed Frank Moses. The film was released on October 15, 2010.^[37]

Upcoming films[link]

Willis will star in the movie adaptation of the video game Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, named Kane & Lynch.^[38] He will also star in the upcoming movie Looper.

On October 12, 2011, it was announced that A Good Day to Die Hard would see a February 14, 2013 (Valentine's Day) release, with Willis reprising his most famous role of John McClane for a fifth time.^[39]

Sylvester Stallone revealed that he is talking to Willis about returning for The Expendables 2. Stallone has said that he wants to expand Willis' role and that he wants Willis to play the villain in the next Expendables. Willis will be starring in the sequel on a more expanded role.^[40] They have talked about Willis' schedule and possible actors that could join the sequel.

Filming for a new movie, Moonrise Kingdom, starring Bruce Willis alongside Bill Murray, Edward Norton and Frances McDormand, is expected to begin in the first half of 2011. Filming will take place in Rhode Island under the direction of Wes Anderson.^[41]

Willis will team up with 50 Cent in a new film directed by David Barrett called Fire with Fire, starring opposite Josh Duhamel about a fireman who must save the love of his life.^[42] Willis will also join Vince Vaughn and Catherine Zeta-Jones in Lay the Favorite, directed by Stephen Frears, about a Las Vegas cocktail waitress who becomes an elite professional gambler.^[43] The two films will be distributed by Lionsgate Entertainment.

Business activities[link]

Willis owns property in Los Angeles, rents an apartment in the Trump Tower in New York City,^[44] and Trump Place,^[45] as well as a home in Malibu, California, a ranch in Montana, a beach home on Parrot Cay in Turks and Caicos, and multiple properties in Sun Valley, Idaho.^[4]

Willis started his own motion picture production company called Cheyenne Enterprises, which he started with his business partner Arnold Rifkin in 2000. He left the company to be run solely by Rifkin in 2007 after Live Free or Die Hard.^[46] He also owns several small businesses in Hailey, Idaho, including The Mint Bar and The Liberty Theater and is a co-founder of Planet Hollywood, with actors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.^[47] In 2009 Willis signed a contract to become the international face of Belvedere SA's Sobieski Vodka in exchange for 3.3% ownership in the company.^[48]

Personal life[link]

Willis' acting role models are Gary Cooper, Robert De Niro, Steve McQueen, and John Wayne.^[49]

Marriages and family[link]

Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, 61st Annual Academy Awards, 1989

At the premiere for the film Stakeout, Willis met actress Demi Moore. Willis married Moore on November 21, 1987 and had three daughters: Rumer Willis (b. August 16, 1988), Scout LaRue Willis (b. July 20, 1991) and Tallulah Belle Willis (b. February 3, 1994) before the couple divorced on October 18, 2000. The couple gave no public reason for their breakup. Regarding the divorce, Willis stated, "I felt I had failed as a father and a husband by not being able to make it work." He credited actor Will Smith for helping him cope with the situation.^[4][15] After their breakup, rumors persisted that the couple planned to re-marry, until Moore married the actor Ashton Kutcher. Willis has maintained a close relationship with both Moore and Kutcher, even attending their wedding.

Willis was engaged to Brooke Burns until they broke up in 2004 after ten months together.^[14] He married Emma Heming in Turks and Caicos on March 21, 2009;^[50] guests included his three daughters, Moore, and Kutcher. The ceremony was not legally binding, so the couple wed again in a civil ceremony in Beverly Hills six days later.^[51] The couple have one daughter, Mabel Ray Willis (b. April 1, 2012).^[52]

Religion[link]

Willis at the German premiere of Over the Hedge on June 28, 2006

Bruce Willis was, at one point, Lutheran (specifically Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod),^[53] but no longer practices, after clarifying in a July 1998 interview with George magazine:

Political views[link]

In 1988, he and Moore openly campaigned for Massachusetts Governor Michael S. Dukakis's Presidential bid. Four years later, he supported President George H. W. Bush for reelection and he was an outspoken critic of Bill Clinton. However, in 1996, he declined to endorse Clinton's Republican opponent Bob Dole, because Dole had criticized Moore for her role in the film Striptease.^[55] Willis was an invited speaker at the 2000 Republican National Convention,^[56] and openly supported George W. Bush that year. He did not make any contributions or public endorsements in the 2008 presidential campaign. In several June 2007 interviews, he declared that he still maintains some Republican ideologies.^[4][15]

In 2006, he said that the United States should invade Colombia, in order to end the drug trafficking.^[57] In several interviews Willis has said that he supports large salaries for teachers and police officers, and says that he is disappointed in the United States' foster care and treatment of Native Americans.^[55][58] Willis also stated that he is a big supporter of gun rights:

In February 2006, Willis appeared in Manhattan to talk about 16 Blocks with reporters. One reporter attempted to ask Willis about his opinion on the current government, but was interrupted by Willis in mid-sentence: "I'm sick of answering this fucking question. I'm a Republican only as far as I want a smaller government, I want less government intrusion. I want them to stop shitting on my money and your money and tax dollars that we give 50 percent of... every year. I want them to be fiscally responsible and I want these goddamn lobbyists out of Washington. Do that and I'll say I'm a Republican... I hate the government, OK? I'm apolitical. Write that down. I'm not a Republican."^[60]

Willis's name was in an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times on August 17, 2006, that condemned Hamas and Hezbollah and supported Israel in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.^[61]

Military interests[link]

Willis meets with Brigadier General Albert Bryant, Jr and deployed soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division, in Tikrit, Iraq, during his 2003 USO tour.

Throughout his film career, Willis has depicted several military characters in films such as The Siege, Hart's War, Tears of the Sun, and Grindhouse. Growing up in a military family, Willis has publicly sold Girl Scout cookies for the United States armed forces. In 2002, Willis's youngest daughter, Tallulah, suggested that he purchase Girl Scout cookies to send to troops. Willis purchased 12,000 boxes of cookies, and they were distributed to sailors aboard USS John F. Kennedy and other troops stationed throughout the Middle East at the time.^[62] In 2003, Willis visited Iraq as part of the USO tour, singing to the troops with his band, The Accelerators.^[63] Willis considered joining the military to help fight the second Iraq war, but was deterred by his age.^[64] It was believed he offered US$1 million to any non combatant who turns in terrorist leaders Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, or Abu Musab al-Zarqawi; in the June 2007 issue of Vanity Fair, however, he clarified that the statement was made hypothetically and not meant to be taken literally.

Willis has also criticized the media for its coverage of the war, complaining that the press were more likely to focus on the negative aspects of the war:

Willis stated in 2005 that he wanted to "make a pro-war film in which American soldiers will be depicted as brave fighters for freedom and democracy."^[66] The film would follow members of Deuce Four, the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry, who spent considerable time in Mosul and were decorated heavily for it. The film is to be based on the writings of blogger Michael Yon, a former United States Army Special Forces soldier who was embedded with Deuce Four and sent regular dispatches about their activities. Willis described the plot of the film as "these guys who do what they are asked for very little money to defend and fight for what they consider to be freedom."^[67]

Controversy[link]

Comments at playoffs[link]

Willis, an avid New Jersey Nets fan, made controversial comments on April 29, 2007 during a live broadcast of a Nets home playoff game on TSN by saying a catch phrase from his Die Hard films, "Yippee-Ki-Yay, Motherfucker", at the end of the interview.^[68][69] Reacting to the backlash, he later blamed his actions on jet lag, stating: "Sometimes I overestimate my ability to function under duress with less than enough sleep".^[15]

"Walter_B"[link]

On May 5, 2007, someone using the screen name "Walter_B" started posting detailed responses onto Ain't it Cool News, where people were discussing the fact that Live Free or Die Hard received a PG-13 rating, instead of an R rating like the earlier three Die Hard films.^[70] The responses included detailed information on Live Free or Die Hard, which was yet to be released; the theme of the Die Hard film series, direct criticisms of other film crews and casts, and many film trivia answers. Many people were skeptical that "Walter_B" was indeed Willis, but on May 9, Willis revealed his identity on a video chat session (using iChat).^[71][72]

Cultural references[link]

In 1996, Roger Director, a writer and producer from Moonlighting wrote a roman à clef on Willis titled A Place to Fall.^[73] Cybill Shepherd wrote in her 2000 autobiography, Cybill Disobedience, that Willis was angry at Director, because the character was written as a "neurotic, petulant actor."

In 1998, Willis participated in Apocalypse, a PlayStation video game. The game was originally announced to feature Willis as a sidekick, not as the main character. The company reworked the game using Willis's likeness and voice and changed the game to use him as the main character.^[23]

Filmography[link]

Discography[link]

Solo albums

• The Return of Bruno, 1987, Motown, OCLC 15508727
• If It Don't Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger, 1989, Motown / Pgd, OCLC 21322754.
• Classic Bruce Willis: The Universal Masters Collection, 2001, Polygram Int'l, OCLC 71124889.

Compilations/Guest appearances

• Moonlighting soundtrack, 1986; track "Good Lovin'"
• Hudson Hawk soundtrack, 1991; tracks "Swinging on a Star" and "Side by Side", both duets with Danny Aiello
• Rugrats Go Wild soundtrack, 2003; "Big Bad Cat" with Chrissie Hynde and "Lust for Life"
• Blues Traveler, North Hollywood Shootout, 2008; track "Free Willis (Ruminations from Behind Uncle Bob's Machine Shop)"

Singles chart

In 1987, Bruce Willis released sang a number of tracks on the soundtrack of the film "The Return of Bruno" including:

• Respect Yourself, reached number 5 in the US and number 7 in the UK
• Under The Boardwalk, reached number 59 in the US and number 2 in the UK
• Young Blood, reached number 62 in the US

In the UK the following singles also charted:

• "Secret Agent Man – James Bond is Back", number 43 (September 1987)
• "Comin' Right Up", number 73 (January 1988)

Awards and honors[link]

Hollywood Walk of Fame star.

Willis has won a variety of awards and has received various honors throughout his career in television and film.

• For his work on the television show Moonlighting he won an Emmy ("Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series") and a Golden Globe ("Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical") plus received additional nominations for the show.^[74]
• He was nominated for a Golden Globe for "Best Supporting Actor" for his role in the film In Country
• Maxim magazine had named his sex scenes in Color of Night (1994) as the best sex scenes ever in film history.^[75]
• In the 1999 drama/thriller film, The Sixth Sense, Willis won the Blockbuster Entertainment Award ("Favorite Actor — Suspense") and the People's Choice Award ("Favorite Motion Picture Star in a Drama"). He was also nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Actor and received two nominations for the MTV Movie Awards for "Best Male Performance" and "Best On-Screen Duo".^[74]
• In 2000, Willis won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on Friends.
• In February 2002, Willis was awarded the Hasty Pudding Man of the Year award from Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals. According to the organization, the award is given to performers who give a lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment.^[76]
• Also in 2002, Willis was appointed as national spokesman for Children in Foster Care by President George W. Bush.^[77] Willis wrote online: "I saw Foster Care as a way for me to serve my country in a system by which shining a little bit of light could benefit a great deal by helping kids who were literally wards of the government."
• In April 2006, he was honored by French government for his contributions to the film industry. Willis was named "Officier Dans L'ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres" (Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters) in a ceremony in Paris. The French Prime Minister stated "This is France's way of paying tribute to an actor who epitomizes the strength of American cinema, the power of the emotions that he invites us to share on the world's screens and the sturdy personalities of his legendary characters."^[78]
• On October 16, 2006, Willis was honored with a star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star is located at 6915 Hollywood Boulevard and it was the 2,321st star awarded in its history. Willis, reacting to his reception of the star, stated "I used to come down here and look at these stars and I could never quite figure out what you were supposed to do to get one...time has passed and now here I am doing this, and I'm still excited. I'm still excited to be an actor."^[79]
• In 2011, Willis was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.^[80]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bruce Willis

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bruce Willis

• BruceWillis.com (Way Back Machine) Official website – shutdown since Thanksgiving 2005. Link refers to the cached homepages of the site at Archive.org.
• Bruce Willis at the Internet Movie Database
• Bruce Willis at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Bruce Willis at People.com
• Bruce Willis at TV Tropes
• Bruce Willis interview on The Tavis Smiley Show
• DeLucia, Matt (July 2007). "The West Bank Café". Restaurant Insider. http://www.newyorkrestaurantinsider.com/july2007-west-bank.asp. Retrieved May 9, 2009. 
• Bruce Willis at Emmys.com