The Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger once insulted Bruce Willis at a public restaurant simply because the Die Hard star’s frame was not as enormous as the former professional bodybuilder. Feuds between action legends is a common thing in Hollywood, but for an established actor to pick on a rising star was quite controversial.
Bruce Willis started his career on television when he appeared in 1985’s Moonlighting. His claim to fame was his role as John McClane in the Die Hard franchise, a role no one expected he would land on.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Wasn’t Impressed With Bruce Willis’ Die Hard
In Nick de Semlyen’s book, The Last Action Heroes: The Triumphs, Flops, and Feuds of Hollywood’s Kings of Carnage, he detailed the problematic beginnings of Bruce Willis’ Die Hard. No one thought that a television star would make a box office hit, let alone rise to become an action legend. Producer Lawrence Gordon stated:
“They had a giant shot of Bruce and a little building, and it tested the lowest of any poster they’d ever tested. So, they rejiggered it so it’s a big building and Bruce small.”
Screenwriter Steven E. de Souza added that there was a lot of bad publicity surrounding the actor, and they feared it would affect how the movie would fare at the box office:
“The newspaper ads didn’t even say his name. His fans had turned on him because of the feud he was having with his co-star on Moonlighting. And then, at the same time, somebody who worked for Bruce, scraping barnacles off his boat, drowned. There was just a lot of bad press. All over the country, when the trailer played, as it said ‘Bruce Willis,’ the audience would either laugh or boo.”
But a stroke of luck turned everything around when the public went wild and screamed while watching the movie. Ultimately, Die Hard ended up becoming the biggest action film of 1988. Despite Willis’ fame and fortune, Arnold Schwarzenegger remained unimpressed.
While the Predator star was dining at Ivy at the Shore in Santa Monica, he spotted Willis across the room and said in a very loud voice enough for everyone to hear: “Know why you’ll never be an action star?” Willis replied, “No, Arnold, why?” Schwarzenegger pointed to his biceps and said, “Toothpick arms.”
Willis ended up becoming one of the most famous Hollywood action stars with numerous blockbusters under his belt, such as Armageddon, The Expendables, and G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Praised Bruce Willis Amid Health Concerns
Following the news of Bruce Willis’ frontotemporal dementia, Arnold Schwarzenegger showed support for the actor who decided to finally retire from acting. He told CinemaBlend:
“I think that he’s fantastic. He was, always for years and years, a huge, huge star. And I think that he will always be remembered as a great, great star and a kind man. I understand that under his circumstances, health-wise, he had to retire. But in general, you know, we never really retire. Action heroes, they reload.”
Even though Schwarzenegger once shamed Willis for his small biceps, they eventually became good friends.
