Arnold Schwarzenegger called his action film counterpart Bruce Willis “a huge, huge star” and “a nice man”.
“I think he’s fantastic,” Schwarzenegger said in an interview with CinemaBlend. “He was always, for years and years, a huge, huge star. And I think he will always be remembered as a big, big star. And a nice man. I understand that in his circumstances, health-wise, that he had to retire. But usually, you know, we never really retire. Action heroes, they reload.
Tommaso Boddi/Getty; Jim Spellman/WireImage Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis
Last year, Willis’ daughter Rumer announced via Instagram that her father had been diagnosed with aphasia, which affects language abilities, and was “walking away” from his career.
“We wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has had health issues and was recently diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities,” she wrote. “As a result and with great consideration, Bruce is stepping away from the career that meant so much to him.”
Schwarzenegger has long been a fan of Willis. In the new book The Last Action Heroes: The Triumphs, Flops, and Feuds of Hollywood’s Kings of Carnageauthor Nick de Semlyen recounts how the Austrian actor “burst out laughing at a Fox screening of the film, especially when McClane exclaims, ‘They’ve got missiles, automatic weapons and enough guns. plastic explosives to orbit Arnold Schwarzenegger!'”
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