Bruce Willis aphasia diagnosis: crew members claim he misfired guns and forgot lines

NME

Crew members and actors have claimed that Bruce Willis misfired prop guns and needed his lines fed through an earpiece while on film sets.

The allegations, which have come to light after the actor’s family announced earlier this week that he is retiring from acting due to being diagnosed with the brain disorder aphasia, have been laid out in a new report by The Los Angeles Times.

According to the report, Willis alarmed movie staffers two years ago when he misfired a prop gun on the set of Hard Kill and last year asked what he was doing on a film set.

Sources also claimed to the publication that the actor struggled to remember his lines and was fed his words through an earpiece known in the industry as an “earwig”.

A body double was used in most action scenes, particularly those that involved the use of prop guns, the report added.

On the set of Hard Kill in Cincinnati two years ago, Willis allegedly fired a gun on the wrong cue. No one was hurt in the apparent incident.

While the movie’s producer has disputed that the incident occurred, some actors and crew members have claimed that he discharged from the firearm.

Actress Lala Kent, who played Willis’ daughter in the film, was supposed to be protected by his character from villains. “I’m supposed to think my life is about to end, and then my dad steps in to save the day,” Kent told the NY Post.

Willis was meant to deliver a line that served as her cue to duck before he fired a gun, but he allegedly shot the firearm without uttering the line. “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,’” Kent added to the paper.

She said that although she asked director Matt Eskandari to remind Willis to say his line before firing again in the next take, the same thing happened.

Eskandari did not respond to calls from the LA Times seeking comment, but another staffer said that he recalled Kent being shocked, and that another crew member claimed that he recalled an incident in which Willis “did fire the gun on the wrong line”.

However, the film’s armorer denied that the incident occurred and filmmaker Randall Emmett, who has worked on 20 Willis movies, also disputed the prop gun allegations.

“I fully support Bruce and his family during this challenging time and admire him for his courage in battling this difficult medical condition. Bruce will always be a part of our family,” Emmett told the LA Times.

The post Bruce Willis aphasia diagnosis: crew members claim he misfired guns and forgot lines appeared first on NME.