Kevin Smith feels like an “A-hole” for “little” comments he once made about Bruce Willis, whose family revealed he suffers from aphasia.
“I was a huge Bruce Willis fan long before the Cop Out stuff so it’s really heartbreaking to read.” Schmidt tweeted Wednesday in response to news of Willis’ diagnosis, referencing the 2010 action comedy he directed and in which the actor starred.
“He loved acting and singing and the loss of that must be devastating for him,” Smith, 51, continued, admitting that he “feels like an A-hole for my little ailments” and Willis, 67 , “so sorry” do , “and his family.”
In January 2011, Smith described the experience working with Willis on Cop Out, which also starred Tracy Morgan, as “f-king soul-crushing.”
“It was difficult,” he said on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast at the time. “I’ve never been in a situation like this where a component wasn’t in the box at all. It was bloody soul crushing.
Smith and Willis, seen here with Justin Long, also collaborated on Live Free or Die Hard in 2007.©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett C
“I mean, a lot of people are going to be like, ‘Oh, you’re just trying to blame him for the movie,'” the filmmaker continued of the buddy cop flick, which received miserable reviews. “No, but I didn’t have any fucking help from that guy.”
While Smith claimed Willis “wouldn’t even sit for a friggin’ poster shoot,” he credited Morgan, now 53, for making the film’s production bearable.
“If it wasn’t for Tracy, I might have killed myself or someone else filming this movie,” he joked.
Smith said he felt “like an a-hole” after Willis’ aphasia diagnosis was revealed. Getty Images
It’s unclear how long the ‘Pulp Fiction’ star has been suffering from symptoms of aphasia, but his family announced on Wednesday that the illness would see him end his decades-long career.
Aphasia affects a person’s cognitive functioning, including their ability to speak, write, and understand both verbal and written language. It usually occurs after a stroke or head injury, although Willis’ family has not explained its cause.
Aphasia affects a person’s cognitive functioning, including their ability to speak, write, and understand language. LightRocket via Getty Images
They also didn’t specify when the “Die Hard” star received the diagnosis, but sources exclusively told Page Six he has “cognitive issues” on movie sets dating back at least to 2020.
Sources also said he used “earbuds” to get leads and “body doublings, not just for action [sequences]but to maximize his screen time.”
“Everyone knew, the cast and the crew,” an insider explained, adding that the actor’s family eventually “stepped in” and “moved in to take care of him.”