James Woods Pays Touching Tribute To Bruce Willis After Learning Of His Career-Ending Diagnosis

Yesterday, we reported that the beloved action movie star Bruce Willis was retiring from acting after being diagnosed with the degenerative brain condition known as aphasia. Now, Hollywood star James Woods and other celebrities are speaking out to share memories and send love to Bruce Willis.

Original story: Bruce Willis Retires From Acting After Devastating Diagnosis

James Woods Posts Tribute To Bruce Willis 

“If you love movies, you love #BruceWillis,” Woods wrote on Twitter. “He has embodied everything good about the word ‘entertainment’ for decades. Kudos to his loving family for handling difficult news with dignity and grace. I speak for the world when I say, ‘We love you, Bruce.'”

James Woods Joined By Other Celebrities Honoring Bruce Willis

Other celebrities have been paying tribute to Willis as well:

Willis’ family announced on Wednesday that the 67 year-old former Die Hard star had been diagnosed with the brain condition that is known as aphasia, “which is impacting his cognitive abilities.”

“As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him,” the family added. 

Bruce Willis Seemed Off For Years

The Los Angeles Times reported that those who worked with Willis suspected for years that something was wrong with him cognitively. Days before production began on Willis’ 2020 movie Out of Death, director Mike Burns sent out an urgent email to the film’s screenwriter saying that the actor’s role needed to be made smaller.

“It looks like we need to knock down Bruce’s page count by about 5 pages,” Burns wrote in the email in June of 2020. “We also need to abbreviate his dialogue a bit so that there are no monologues, etc.”

Burns added that Willis’ lines needed to be “short and sweet,” and he did not elaborate on the reason behind this. The director said yesterday that after he began working with Willis, he could quickly see that something was off. 

“After the first day of working with Bruce, I could see it firsthand and I realized that there was a bigger issue at stake here and why I had been asked to shorten his lines,” he said. 

Related: Bruce Willis Kicked Out Of Los Angeles Rite-Aid After Refusing To Wear Mask

Aphasia Affects Ability To Communicate

Aphasia often develops in people who have suffered strokes, and it greatly affects their ability to communicate. However, Willis’ family has not yet revealed what led to him developing aphasia. 

The production team on the Willis movie White Elephant, which is currently in post-production, also noticed that the former Sixth Sense star was not his usual self. 

“He just looked so lost, and he would say, ‘I’ll do my best.’ He always tried his best,” said Terri Martin, the production supervisor on White Elephant.  “He is one of the all-time greats, and I have the utmost admiration and respect for his body of work, but it was time for him to retire.”

James Woods certainly hit the nail on the head – we all love Bruce Willis. He will forever be one of the greats that helped shape the action genre.

There is going to be a lot of re-watching Die Hard, Armageddon, Unbreakable, Glass, Tears Of The Sun, The Sixth Sense, and more this weekend. What an incredible catalogue he leaves behind.

This is obviously an extremely difficult time for Bruce Willis and his family. Please join us in saying a prayer for them.