Inside Bruce Willis' Final Years Of Acting

In 2015, Bruce Willis secured a very impressive acting gig: a supporting role in the Woody Allen movie "Café Society." Pairing up this performer with Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, Willis was set to play Eisenberg's boss who becomes embroiled in a love triangle that involves Stewart's character. Not only was Willis signed on for the role, but set photos emerged showing him filming scenes in a vintage automobile with Eisenberg. Willis, it appeared, had secured another high-profile arthouse gig.

Unfortunately, a few days into principal photography, the "Café Society" production made the sudden announcement that Willis would no longer be a part of the feature. The announced reason for his departure was a scheduling conflict with a new Broadway take on "Misery" that Willis was supposed to headline. However, rumors swirled that Willis had been let go after having difficulty memorizing his lines, a problem that produced a strain for the other actors. 

(It's worth noting that, after Willis' aphasia diagnosis was made public, a source told Page Six that Willis was having "cognitive problems" for years and occasionally had his lines fed to him through an earpiece. Another source corroborated these statements to The Sun, who also pointed out that "The changes became noticeable about five years ago" — which is around the same time "Café Society" was in production.)

While this disruption didn't single-handedly kill his career, Willis' inability to stick around for "Café Society" — not to mention his then-recent spat with Sylvester Stallone, which led to his character getting written out of "The Expendables 3" – speak to his difficulty in the 2010s on maintaining consistent mainstream work. Direct-to-video movies weren't just an easy paycheck, they were also a fallback now that Willis was struggling to secure steady theatrical movie gigs.