BRUCE WILLIS is one of the most criminally underestimated leading men in Hollywood. Although he's now best known for his action hero roles, many forget that the 51-year-old first sent pulses racing as the "joker-in-the-pack" private detective David Addison in the hit 80s TV show Moonlighting.
After years of kicking butt on the big screen, the star, who was once married to actress Demi Moore, seems to be mellowing in his old age.
Despite divorcing Demi in 1998 after a stormy 13-year marriage, the pair still live across the road from one another and have joint custody of their three children - rumer, Scout Larue and Tallulah Belle.
Willis, after the success of films like Sin City and The Sixth Sense, reportedly earns over US$20 million a film, making him one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood.
Born in Germany on an American Army base in 1955, Willis' family relocated to New Jersey when he was just two.
TRUCK DRIVING CAREER
Back in the U.S. Willis was always the rebel and at school the hunk was expelled after being involved in a riot, and finally dropped out of education completely at the age of 17 to take a job as a driver in a local factory.
But the young star was shocked when an industrial accident took the life of a friend and he decided to rethink his career.
Willis decided to try out acting and found that despite a terrible stutter off stage, in front of the audience his speech impediment disappeared.
After a local acting course and some small plays, he headed to New York and got a job as a bartender while attending auditions.
His first big break came in 1987 when he landed the part of David Addison in the series starring alongside Cybil Shepard. Willis became an overnight star.
In 1988, he was offered the part of John McClane in the Die Hard movie, paving the way for the action hero persona we know today.
In a rare interview, Willis talks to Simon Thompson about love, getting older, why he's going green, his phobia of spiders, and spills the beans on Die Hard 4.
Q: You are 51 and you look amazing, but Hollywood seems to be a place for young stars these days. Does that make you feel old?
A: No, not really. I feel great!
Q: In a recent interview you said that you felt you were slowing down ...
A: That all came out of an interview I did about a movie I've been working on called Alphadog. We were filming this scene where I had to jump over a wall and I thought to myself, 'If I jump over that wall what might the consequences be?' Anyway, I just climbed up and looked down and saw the eight-foot drop and realised this could go one of two ways. As it turns out, everything went okay. I made it and still looked cool. In my heart I'm still about 25.
Q: And you're working on a fourth Die Hard movie, I understand.
A: Yeah, the script is done and we have a director. We are due to start shooting on the east coast of the U.S. later this year. It should be very exciting.
Q: What can you tell me about the story?
A: I can't tell you too much about it right now but I can tell you that John McClane has retired as a cop. That's all Fox will allow me to tell you, but I know it's going to be great.
Q: I want to ask you about love. You and Demi - your ex-wife - still live close to each other.
A: I don't know why everyone can't do that. I think we're both really fortunate that we put the kids first. That's a big thing.
Q: It's amazing that you've managed to stay so close.
A: We both still love each other I guess. We're really good friends, we respect each other.
Q: Demi has remarried. Have you thought about it?
A: I honestly don't know.
Q: When you meet someone, how do you know you can trust them?
A: I trust people until they break that trust. I can't stop being a guy who basically does trust people.
Q: You're a lot softer than your onscreen persona suggests.
A: Everyone has an idea of who I am, based on interviews, the films and TV I've done, and they think they know me based on that. But by and large that's so different from who I really am as a man.
Q: And this year you've shown your softer side by playing a raccoon in the animated movie Over The Hedge.
A: Making that movie was fun. While I was getting ready to play RJ I actually went out and lived with a family of them in the New Jersey woods for about three months. Sadly, it didn't really work out because I couldn't understand what they were trying to tell me. They kept giving me bits of pine bark and little pieces of tin foil. I don't know what this means. Do you?
Q: Sorry, I don't. So what was the best bit about raccoon life?
A: I tell you what I did like, and that was their little raccoon paws. When we'd fall asleep at night they'd come over and put their raccoon paws all over my face, that felt really good. There is one little guy that still calls me - all hours of the night. I still can't understand what he's saying though.
Q: Has doing a movie about the environment made you think about the planet more?
A: Absolutely. I live in Los Angles and spend about five hours a day in a car and I hate driving. It makes me really cranky. I'm getting one of those electric cars that drive 130 miles per hour because it makes sense to use an alternative to digging up oil. The best thing about the car in 'Over The Hedge' is that it doesn't burn any oil. Do you know why? Because it's an animated car! That's even better.
Q: Do you think we've lost touch with the animal kingdom?
A: I think humans have forgotten that we are animals, we're just on top of the food chain, driving cars and do cool things but we somehow put ourselves above animals. If you're over in Africa, and it's just you and you take on a lion, you'll lose. The lion will take one look at you and think one thing - food! Where I live in Los Angeles is kind of in the woods and I have a whole food chain there from deer to possum, skunks - I have almost been skunked a few times - and my dog has been spiked by a porcupine. She got quills all the way through her jaw. I don't like spiders though. There are spiders that can kill you, and I can't tell the difference between those that can and those that can't, so I don't like any of them. I am guilty of taking the animal kingdom for granted, I think we all are.
Q: Because you've been acting for so long, do you worry about running out of original things to do?
A: I don't worry. I'm not a worrier. I've done something like 70 films, and four years of TV. I think the films are driven by the scripts and the story rather than what I bring to it and the characters.
Q: Do you think there will come day when you step behind the camera?
A: I've always said no because I still love acting too much. If I could paint, I'd paint. If I could sculpt, I'd do that. I might direct something one day. I'm not afraid of it anymore.
- Bangshowbiz.com
