Director Michael Bay is sharing a fond memory of Bruce Willis during the filming of "Armageddon." And it's the nostalgic reminder the daredevil attitude that Willis often brought to so many of his film roles.
In a recent interview about his new action movie, “Ambulance,” director Michael Bay took some time to tell a fun story about his 1998 space thriller.
In it, Willis, whose family recently announced that he was stepping away from acting due to an aphasia diagnosis, played Harry S. Stamper, a tough guy and head of a rag-tag crew of astronauts tasked with flying a nuclear bomb out to the center of an asteroid that’s hurtling towards earth.
While it was a summer tentpole movie at the time, it was only Bay’s third film, and he was a little intimidated by Willis, who was so admired in “Die Hard."
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“Bruce, he’s a movie star,” Bay said. “He can command the screen. He’s very funny too.”
But you know what else he can add to the resume? Risk taker.
As Variety reported, Bay explained that Willis cooked up a mischievous scheme while filming scenes in an actual Space Shuttle at NASA that allowed him to sit on the capsule door but not walk in.
“They stopped prepping it for one hour, for us,” said Bay. “We are on the gantry [the Orbiter Access Arm, which allows access into the shuttle], and Bruce was able to walk in. He goes to me, ‘Mike, we’re gonna do one take; the second take, I’m going to make a run for it and I’m going to go inside the shuttle.'”
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As Willis and the director approach the capsule door, Bay said “Bruce is about to break into the space shuttle … and these guys, all in suits, fully masked up, they’re like [wagging his finger side to side], ‘Uh, uh, uh!’
While the film received poor critical reception, it ended being a big hit and a cult-classic, and much of that is due to Willis, according to Bay.
“He takes control of the cast,” Bay explained, “and he’s got a great fun energy and I had a great time. He was tough at first, and by the way, ‘Armageddon’ was a total fun set. … It was almost like camp.”
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“Ambulance" starring Jake Gyllenhaal is in theaters now. Get your tickets here.
You can watch "Armageddon" on Amazon Prime Video now.
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