Playboy Interview: Bruce Willis

Flashing his inimitable smirk and sairing hostages from terroiists in an LA. high-rise, Bruce Willis became a box-office sensation in 1988 playing John McClane, the bloodied yet unstoppable hero of Die Hard, often called one of the best action movies e\er: Live Free or Die Hard opens on June 27. As Willis would say, uttering his famous taunt from the mm'ies, "Yippee-ki-yay, motheifucker."

Though best known for the Die Hard moxnes, Willis has an impressive body of work, including an eclectic list of films such as Armageddon, 12 Monkeys, The Kid, The Jackal, The Fifth Ele­ment, Sin City, The Last Boy Scout and Grind-house. He was unforgettable as Butch, the boxer in Qitentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. And unlike most other action heroes, he has taken risks by signing on to play small supporting roles in inde­pendent mox'ies like Nobody's Fool, co-starring Paul Newman, last year's Fast Food Nation and this year's Astronaut Fanner. He has also been handsomely remunerated; as one of Hollywood's most highly paid acton, he commands more than $20 million a movie. He reportedly earned more than 560 million in salaty and points for his part in the sleeper hit The Sixth Sense.

Willis has frequently appeared in gossip col-

umns. especially when he married another of Hollywood's biggest stars, Demi Moore. The pair had three daughters, Scout, Rumer and Tallulah, before divorcing in 2000. Mooiv remanied to Ash-ton Kiitclwr, star of That '70s Slum'. Willis attended the wedding, and the three are surprisingly good friends. For his part, Willis has remained single.

He was born in Idar-Oberstein, West Ger­many on the military base where his father was stationed. His mother worted in a bank. When the elder Willis retired from the anned forces, he mmied his family to Penns Grmv, New Jersey and was employed as a welder and factory uwrker.

After graduating from high school (he was class president), Willis moved to New York City to act. He made a living by waiting tables and tending bar and getting bit parts in theater, com­mercials and telexiision before landing the lead role in Moonlighting opposite Cybill Shepherd and becoming a major name. The series ran for five years in the latter half of the 1980s. In 1988 he set a record for an actor's salary when he was paid S5 million for the first Die Hard movie.

Willis is also known for his partying and his politics. He owns the Mint bar in Hailey, Idaho, the town where he and Moore raked their children. (He has homes in Hailey and Los Angeles.) It was not uncommon to run into him at the bar or on its stage; he performs as frontman and harp player for his band, the Accelerators. He has been an active supporter of a string of Republican presi-

dential candidates including George W. Bmh. In addition, he has been one of the feu1 Hollywood celebrities to publicly support the Iraq war. In //(is inteii'iew, howmer, Willis, 52, for the first time announces that his political views have evolved.

Contributing Editor David Sheff, who conducted last month's interview with Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, met Willis in Los Angeles. "I last interviewed Willis in 1996," Sheff reports. "He was married to Demi Moore and living most of the time in Hailey. Years later Willis seems no less devoted to his children, who are now teenagers, and no less irreverent and fun, yet he has more confidence and maturity. He's still passionate but more thoughtful about politics. He has less hair, however—none, to be exact. His head was freshly shaved."

PLAYBOY: A decade ago you said you were bored with Die Hard. What has changed since Die Hard With a Vengeance? WILLIS: With a Vengeance just felt like the last squeak of a genre of movies about an ordi­nary guy in extraordinary circumstances, trying to save the day. I knew it was going to somehow reinvent itself, though. It just took a while. The new one satisfies the mythology of Die Hard but also brings a lot of new juice. It took a while for me to want to do it. Live Free or Die Hard was a huge risk for me. I was prepared to retire

undefeated. The first three films made almost a billion dollars. So why? PLAYBOY: We're game. So why? WILLIS: Enough time had passed that I wasn't bored with the idea any longer. Quite the contrary. I was psyched. I wanted to see what we could pull off. I waited for a great script, and we got one. Frankly, making it was a blast. But it was risky because the potential for fail­ure is high. There's competition—this summer there's Spider-Man 3, Shrek 3, Pirates 3 and a Harry Potter—and the marketplace is different now. People watch movies in different ways; they don't always go to the theater. PLAYBOY: How do you minimize the risk? WILLIS: There is no minimi/inu the risk.

Ultimately, you just make a decision and go for broke. You hold on for the ride. This film is at least as good as the first one, probably better, and the first one was my favorite. PLAYBOY: At the time of Die Hard With a Vengeance you said, "Pyro­technics are no longer novel." Have you changed your mind? WILLIS: The world of special effects changed that. You can now generate enough horsepower on computers so that effects are less cost-prohibitive. They have a much bigger bang now. They don't look like a big gas fireball, which is what they used to be. PLAYBOY: Literally? WILLIS: Yeah, they used to blow up big bags of gasoline. That was as far as they had gotten with the pyro effects. The new ones blow you away, make you stop breathing. We also pushed the stunts. I don't want to say it was a dangerous movie to make, because the safety consciousness of stunt people today is better than it has ever been. But I did stunts in Live Free or Die Hard that I probably shouldn't have. PLAYBOY: Like what? WILLIS: Jumping out of a car at 35 miles an hour. I probably shouldn't have done that. PLAYBOY: Were you hurt?

WILLIS: Let's just say my chiropractor wasn't surprised to see me. It was a lot easier to do this kind of stuff 20 years ago. I didn't think twice about it. Now I do. And I feel it. Small stuff like getting knocked in the head while diving off the top of a banquette onto a concrete floor. Pads or no pads, it takes a toll. But once all the yelling and screaming and the gunfire is over, you forget about the blood on the floor. You forget about the fact that every day you wake up and you're banged up. PLAYBOY: You're 52. Are you more care­ful now?

WILLIS: I don't know if kids play army anymore, but I did when I was a kid. I did stuff that would give most parents

heart attacks. It's hard to shake the little

kid in me.

PLAYBOY: Did a stuntman teach you how

to jump out of a moving car without

hurting yourself?

WILLIS: I don't know if anybody knows

how to jump out of a car without getting

hurt. You hope for the best.

PLAYBOY: In making Live Free or Die Hard,

how much did you consider fans of the

first three movies?

WILLIS: There was a lot of resistance from

fans about our wanting Live Free or Die Hard

to be PG-13. The fans wanted it to be R and

thought we would tame it. We didn't.

PLAYBOY: Why make it PG-13?

WILLIS: It gives us a wider audience. It

allows parents to take their kids.

PLAYBOY: Is it therefore less violent than it might have been?

WILLIS: Actually, it's more smashmouth, back to the first film. Some of the fight scenes are as tough as anything I've ever seen. PLAYBOY: Has what is acceptable for 13-year-old kids changed? WILLIS: When Jaws came out, in the 1970s, it was rated PC That's a scary, violent movie. A lot of what constitutes a PG-13 movie is how many times you can say the word fuck. It curtailed my ability to say "motherfucker." "Okay, we've said it once. Now we can say 'fuck' only one more time." We had to get creative. PLAYBOY: Can you say "fuck" only twice in a PG-13 movie? WILLIS: That's the rule. You can kill as

many bad guys as you want, however. PLAYBOY: But aren't there also limita­tions on violence?

WILLIS: There are limits to that. too. There are "blood values." PLAYBOY: What are blood values? WILLIS: How much blood you can show, how realistic it is. It's down to a formula. I remember seeing Bonnie and Clyde and Bullitt when I was young. I remember going, "Whoa, my God!" But now you can't have blood bags blasting out at the camera. There's a curve. We've moved from a time when society was looser to one when it's more parochial. We're heading into a very parochial lime. It's the opposite of the Roaring Twenties, the post-World War II babv boom years and the 1960s.

The 1980s are looked at as a pretty loose time too, but now we're in a more conservative time. You have to go to rehab if you call somebody a name. PLAYBOY: If you can find an open bed. These days it seems as if half of Hollywood is in and out of rehab. In Britney Spears's case, in and out and in and out of rehab. Are you cynical about the trend? WILLIS: Not at all. I'm cynical about the media's point of view that it's all entertainment, but anybody who makes a choice to go into rehab—or go in and out of rehab, if that's what it takes—is brave. You fall down, you've got to get up. Drugs and alcohol aren't bigger problems in Hollywood than anywhere else. They're everywhere. Also, one drug is still advertised everywhere you look—at every sporting event, in every magazine. More people are killed by drunk drivers every year than by anything else. The problem is largely ignored. The big problem is the reasons people have for wanting to anesthetize themselves. We fight it the wrong way. ITie war on drugs is a joke. If somebody weren't making money off cocaine traffic or drug traffic in general, it wouldn't exist. PLAYBOY: You caused a stir when

you suggested the U.S. government should fight the war on drugs by raiding Colombia. The president of that country called you ignorant and ungrateful. WILLIS: I get passionate sometimes. I said Colombia because it was the first country to come to mind. The truth is that the drug problem has as much to do with what's going on in this country. If there weren't a demand, there wouldn't be a supply. PLAYBOY: Have you talked about drugs with your children?

WILLIS: Demi and I both have. We have an ongoing conversation. They have the gene, and we warn them: "You have a predispo­sition to be an alcoholic." It's on her side of the family and mine. It's something to be aware of. My kids are strongly antidrug.

PLAYBOY: Is it hypocritical to tell your children how bad drugs are even though you've done them?

WILLIS: We're the last generation that can actually say we didn't know drugs were bad. I remember being in health dass when they were teaching us about LSD and marijuana. They didn't know a thing. We were of that experimental generation of the 1960s. No one knew, but now we do. We know, and yet look at the crack problem, look at the meth problem. Drugs are taking people down, ravaging lives. I know lots of people who went down because of drugs. Many people from our generation are gone. PLAYBOY: Do you use any drugs? Do you drink?

WILLIS: I've gone full circle. I smoked weed, and my kids know that. I quit drinking for a chunk of time. I never drank when my kids were around. By now I've learned I can have a couple of drinks or some wine and then stop. I'll have a martini from time to time—vodka, ice-cold, straight up, bone-dry, twist. But especially when you're work­ing, the recovery period is just too much. I go for months without drinking anything. This works for me, but I know people who have to maintain 24-hour vigilance. It's a dangerous thing to say, "Yes, I was in AA, and now I take a drink on occasion." Hard­core AA people will say that's a bad mes­sage. I'm just telling you my experience. As I said, though, I've lost people to drugs and alcohol—good friends. It has shown me how fragile life is and how quickly it can be taken away. There's a lot I don't know, but there's one thing I can say emphatically and with certainty: Do not waste your time before getting help. I hear people say, "I'll get to that when I'm in my 40s," "I'll do that when I'm in my 60s." I've got a lot of friends who didn't make it. PLAYBOY: You're sounding more philo­sophical at 52 than when we spoke when you were 40.

WILLIS: Yeah, well, it's called maturing. Hopefully, we get a bit wiser. It's the ben­efit that comes with the aches and pains of being older. It's the booby prize. PLAYBOY: What's the difference between being an action hero at 52 rather than at 32, when you made Die Hard} WILLIS: People have asked, "Aren't you too old?" Nobody ever feels their age. In my heart I'm still 25. But I get that little knock every once in a while that says, "You're not 25, kid." That little creak you get when you get out of bed in the morn­ing if you sleep wrong. PLAYBOY: Did you train in order to make the movie?

WILLIS: I was in a little better shape. I'm a little chunkier now. I had to get in shape because I knew six months of this film would kick my ass. And it did. PLAYBOY: For what movie were you in the best shape? In Pulp Fiction you played a boxer. Did you train like one? WILLIS: I was in great shape for Pulp Fiction but for cosmetic reasons more than any­thing else. I had to be naked in the film.

Any time you go through the script and it says "throws his shirt off," you're going to work out the next day. Nobody wants to see a fat, naked boxer. But I got in shape for the fourth Die Hard because I knew the stunts would be a lot harder to do 20 years later. PLAYBOY: Why the shaved head? WILLIS: John McClane's head is shaved in the movie because mine is. It also made sense. If you look at the first film, I have all my hair. It's a decline of hair, a process. PLAYBOY: Have you had second thoughts about showing the decline? WILLIS: No. I do movies that 1 wear wigs in. I wear hairpieces. I wear mustaches. I wear beards. I wear makeup. Some of the biggest movie stars who ever lived, going back to the 1940s, wore wigs and hair­pieces. It's a convention of storytelling. PLAYBOY: You've also worn padding rather than gain weight for roles. Robert De Niro famously gained more than 60 pounds to play Jake La Motta in Raging Bull. Would you ever gain weight for a role? WILLIS: I was blown away when he did that, but I know how difficult it was for him to lose the weight. I was such a fan of that film and of him.

PLAYBOY: Is it intimidating to work with some­one like De Niro, someone you admire? WILLIS: I'm working with him now. I'm doing a small part in a movie Barry Levin-son is directing called What Just Happened? I'm doing it because De Niro has always been a huge hero of mine. I get to work all my scenes in the film with him. What can I say? Working with De Niro is a thrill. PLAYBOY: Before it became trendy, you were one of the first big-name actors who regularly took small roles in independent movies. Why?

WILLIS: They have given me the opportu­nity to keep challenging myself as an actor. The best parts aren't always the ones in which you star and are in every shot. I got to work with Paul Newman; I did Nobody's Fool because all my scenes were with him. I did Death Becomes Her because I wanted to work with Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and the director, Bob Zemeckis. I'm more proud of some of the small films than the big ones. Mortal Thoughts, Nobody's Fool, Lucky Number Slexmi. When I started, tak­ing supporting roles in other people's films was not the norm. You see it a lot more now. I think I was a forerunner. Now

it's considered cool. At the time, however, people predicted it would be the end of my career and affect my price. Those pre­dictions were unfounded. PLAYBOY: Indeed. You reportedly earned $60 million for The Sixth Sense. WILLIS: It was a big number, yeah. Nobody thought it was going to be a big, giant hit. Some people still don't understand the ending.

PLAYBOY: Terry Gilliam, who directed you in 12 Monkeys, said, "There's great power in his stillness—not only when he's blow­ing things up."

WILLIS: It's a great compliment. I got some bizarre award in Europe for my opening shot in Pulp Fiction. It's just me watching Ving Rhames and listening to him talk. I worked on stillness and mini­malism for a long time. I try to mix it up, though. I'm a tough critic on myself and push myself hard.

PLAYBOY: Are you tougher than your other critics?

WILLIS: There are tougher critics. PLAYBOY: What would you say to the toughest ones?

WILLIS: I'm still here, motherfuckers. I'm still making movies, and I still get asked back. And for all I have and all the expe­riences I've had, I'm extremely fortu­nate, even though being famous can also be a fucked-up thing. PLAYBOY: Fucked-up how? WILLIS: It's bizarre. I'm still learning how to do it. In Hollywood they say every­body gets two years to be an asshole. Sometimes it lasts a little longer. PLAYBOY: Did you put in your two years? Were you an asshole? WILLIS: There were times when I was less than humble, yeah. There were times I was less than gracious. There were years when I worked the entire calendar year just going from film to film, and I was moving fast and was unappreciative of the people around me. My default mode now is to be gracious and appreciative that I'm here. But there were times when 1 wasn't. PLAYBOY: Because of arrogance? WILLIS: Maybe. Or defensiveness. You start to keep people at arm's length, and some­times I kept people at far more than arm's length. .Also, I was protected by a group of people who kept me walled in. PLAYBOY: What changed? WILLIS: I just didn't want to live like that anymore. The novelty of fame has worn off. There's nothing I don't know about it. I'm an expert on being famous. PLAYBOY: When you read headlines about the troubles of celebrities—Paris Hilton's, Mel Gibson's—do you read them differ-endy than the rest of us because you under­stand what it's like to be inside their skin? WILLIS: Sure. I know it's difficult to live life in the public eye. Some people don't han­dle it well. There's a whole new crew of people who actually seek out fame. Shows like American Idol hold out the promise I hat anybody can be famous. PLAYBOY: Do you cringe as you watch the

media and the public eat some newcom­ers alive?

WILLIS: Some of them are eaten; some fall by the wayside. Yeah, it can be brutal. PLAYBOY: Vet you put yourself in the fray not only by acting but through your political involvement. WILLIS: There are just a lot of issues that bug me. 1 have never been good at keep­ing my mouth shut. PLAYBOY: What bugs you now? WILLIS: My biggest problem with politics now is the same as it was 20 years ago: Unul they get the lobbyists out of Washing­ton, the perception of politicians as thieves won't change. The hard fact is that bags of cash arrive in Washington every day, and politicians cany them off. No wonder people are cynical. I'm concerned about that and another issue you don't hear a lot about. The United States was founded on taking a country away from Native Ameri­cans. You don't hear a lot about what hap­pens on the reservations now. Life there is as bleak as ever. I'm concerned about other things, too. Racism is still rampant. There's prejudice against homosexuals. We have far to go on issues of inequality. PLAYBOY: For one of Hollywood's most renowned Republicans, you're sounding awfully liberal.

WILLIS: The world has changed, and I've changed. In the past my conservative point of view came down to one thing: I wanted smaller government, less waste. But I've always thought the government should take care of the elderly and others who can't take care of themselves. The government should take care of kids. I'm involved in the National Foster Care pro­gram because the foster care system needs to be fixed, and it won't be fixed by the private sector. Schoolteachers shouldn't be getting $40,000 or $50,000 a year. Give them $150,000. 1 want the government to take care of people who need help. Haifa million kids are in orphanages right now. I want the elderly to get free medicine, whatever they need. Billions and billions of dollars are being wasted. PLAYBOY: If you keep talking this way, you're going to be kicked out of the Republican Party.

WILLIS: I'm no longer a member of the Republican Party. PLAYBOY: Since when? WILLIS: lor a while. PLAYBOY: Are you now a Democrat? WILLIS: If I had to describe myself as any­thing. 1 would say independent, but I didn't sign up for that party, either. PLAYBOY: But you helped get George W. Bush elected.

WILLIS: You have to thank Bill Clinton for that.

PLAYBOY: What did Clinton do? WILLIS: 1 was apolitical for a long time, but Clinton got me off my ass. I didn't like his ideas of change just for the sake of change. In two terms, what did he get done? But I'm appalled by what's going on now. Look at the returning vets. The Walter Reed

hospital scandal is just another example of how we treat them. I say give them all a million dollars. If you serve your country and get blown up and you're in a wheel­chair for the rest of your life or you lose an arm, you should be taken care of. How about no more paying taxes for them? Pol­iticians never have problems voting them­selves raises. How about giving money to veterans and American Indians? PLAYBOY: Will you support someone in the upcoming presidential election? WILLIS: We'll see. I'm talking to candi­dates about these issues. I'll see what they have to say.

PLAYBOY: Since you helped elect Bush, do you feel any responsibility for the cur­rent state of affairs?

WILLIS: It's complicated, and things have changed and continue to change. I'm of two minds about so many things—espe­cially politics. Anything you can ask me about politics, I can tell you yes, but I also feel the inverse of that, too. PLAYBOY: Is this new for you? WILLIS: I'm older. I have kids. Demi was pregnant with Rumer when I did the first Die Hard. There are things that fuck with

my mind about the shameful inequalities. More than anything else, the passage of time has gotten me to see both sides of almost any issue.

PLAYBOY: Yet you have gone on record as one of the few Hollywood figures who support the war.

WILLIS: It's complicated too. I'm of two minds about it. In some ways I could argue that Vietnam set the stage for the free market and relatively free society in that part of Asia. Yes, I wanted Hussein out. I can see things working out in the region in the long run because they took him out, but I can also see the disaster. It's not easy, and there's no easy answer. PLAYBOY: Is it true you offered $1 million to anyone who killed Osama bin Laden or other Al Qaeda leaders? WILLIS: That was something I said to someone in private. The press picked it up and sensationalized it. PLAYBOY: But you made the offer? WILLIS: As I said, I was having a private conversation, and it was overheard by somebody in the press who made a big deal out of it. PLAYBOY: Do you regret having said it?

WILLIS: Do I wish it hadn't been picked up? Yeah. It was taken out of context. PLAYBOY: Do you stay on top of the news? WILLIS: I do. but I don't read papers any­more. I get news on the Internet. I read a lot of what's out there. PLAYBOY: BlogS?

WILLIS: I read Michael Yon's blog. It's pretty straight dope on what's happen­ing in Iraq. I go to Yahoo for news, and I Google whatever I want more on. PLAYBOY: In the blog era. everyone is an ana­lyst and critic. Do you support the trend? WILLIS: As Kurt Vonnegut said, "Writing an antiwar book is like writing an anti-glacier book." There's nothing you can do about it.

PLAYBOY: But now more people than ever have something to say about your movies and your personal life. It's the same for others in your position—Mel Gibson when he is stopped for DUI and makes anti-Semitic remarks or Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah's couch. WILLIS: Who cares if Tom Cruise jumped on a couch? He was excited. He was in love. And with Gibson, I do not condone drunk driving. I warn my daughters about it all the time. I warn them about being on the road at two a.m in L.A. when they're sober, because hundreds of thousands of drunk people are out there driving home every night. But everybody says things when they've been cocktailing that they wouldn't want put in print or on YouTube. Mel sold a lot of newspapers during that time. A lot of people were stopped after having a cocktail and driving that night, but he just happened to be the famous one. It's not an apology for any drunk driver, but I've done things when I've been drinking.... PLAYBOY: At this point are you unaffected by whatever is written about you? WILLIS: I've had some of the worst shit said about me that's ever been said. At a certain point I stopped reading it. I don't let it into my house. I know it's out there, though. We can go to the newsstand right now. and I bet we'll find something being said about me. Gossip has become entertainment; it's a major part of a billion-dollar industry. Who's fucking who? I told an interviewer for latiity Fair, "Look, you want to know who I'm fucking." He started laughing and said, "Yeah, that is what we want to know." I know that's what sells. I said. "I know it sells, but I'm not going to tell you. because it's not any of your business." I think actors should be left alone, which of course they never will be. But it's different for politi­cians. I expect a politician not to take a shit in the Oval Office for his four or eight years. That's not asking too much, is it? PLAYBOY: You still don't forgive Clinton? WILLIS: I do, and most people have. I suppose.

PLAYBOY: Do you hold her husband's behavior in office against Hillary Clinton? WILLIS: No, I'm not judging her. It's him. And I know' it's a high-pressure gig, but try to behave. I wouldn't want to be (continued on page 145)

BRUCE WILLIS

(continued from page 54) president. I can't imagine wanting to. PLAYBOY: You once said you couldn't run for ollkr unless they were grading on a curve. WILLIS: Thai's siill the same, bin something has changed with this election, and it's really cool. When we were kids we said someday a black man will run for president of the United States. People said, "No way. It will never happen." We also said someday a woman will run for president They said that would never happen either. Both are hap­pening this lime. People say things don't ever change. They do change. Another change is instant news. Now you couldn't keep what a Kennedy was doing in the

White 1 louse quiet. PLAYBOY: Or what you're doing. Does the scrutiny affect the way you live your life—how and whom you date? WILLIS: You don't want to Ih' a waiver across the table— "Sign here"—but going out with somebody famous is a liability. It's pretty much inevitable that if you continue to date someone for a long period of time, you'll be in the papers. PLAYBOY: On the other, darker hand, do you have to watch out for women who would love to be in the papers—and see you as a way to get there?

WILLIS: Sure. They're out there too. PLAYBOY: Recently a kiss between you and Drew Barry-more was widely discussed online. Are you dating? WILLIS: Drew and I

are old friends. 1 hadn't seen her for a long time, and I gave her a kiss. There were other things going on in the room that night that weren't reported, things far racier than my giving Drew a kiss. PLAYBOY: Such as?

WILL1S: Sorry, but if it's against the law to kiss a beautiful actress who is a friend of mine, then lock me up and take me to the gulag. I'm a single guy, and I'm hav­ing a hard enough time in the world of romance without somebody giving me shit for kissing Drew. PLAYBOY: What gets your blood boiling more: critics, tabloids or paparazzi? WILLIS: Fuck critics. Fuck tabloids. Fuck paparazzi. Paparazzi got Princess Diana

and Dodi killed. People don't talk much about that, but they killed her. I've been in that situation. Motorcycles are so close to the car. People get amped up and freaked out. I always said, "Someday somebody is going lo get killed." Someone did. PLAYBOY: Are you beyond confronting a paparazzo who gets too close? WILLIS: I'm not beyond it. There are times when 1 don't want to be John McClane out in public at a restaurant. There are times when I'm with my kids. I'll say, "Hey, I'm with my kids. Please respect that." PLAYBOY: Do they?

WILLIS: Sometimes. The foreign cats don't. They do whatever the fuck it takes to get the pictures. I guess I'm just lucky I don't have to knock out the rent by taking pic-

tures of somebody famous, maybe getting lucky and catching somebody smooch­ing or, best, catching somebody without her panties on.

PLAYBOY: In an interview, Colin Parrel 1 said you showed up on the set of Hart's War without knowing your lines because you had been out partying. Did you? WILLIS: No, it's not true. Colin also said I have a huge cock.

PLAYBOY: Also not true? Indeed, the clip of the interview in which he said that is on YouTube. WILLIS: He's Irish, man. PLAYBOY: Which means? WILLIS: You've got to take what that kid says with a grain of salt. I love him. He

doesn't take interviews very seriously, and he's no stranger to a cocktail. He was just trying to wind me up. PLAYBOY: The press has had a field day with your friendship with Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore's husband. Many men don't want much to do with their ex-wife or their ex-wife's current husband. Not you? WILLIS: No, I couldn't be happier for her, you know? I couldn't be happier that Demi, as the mother of my children, found such a great guy.

PLAYBOY: Did you know him before they were a couple?

WILLIS: 1 knew of him. In the luck of the draw I am fortunate to have .Ashton in the family. It took a long time for people to wrap their minds around the fact that I

could be friends with my ex-wife's new husband, but we are friends. We all go on vacations together. We hang out. PLAYBOY: Did it take time for you to get used to the idea of their relationship? WILLIS: It was pretty good right away. PLAYBOY: Were you ever jealous? WILLIS: It's a hurdle, but I'm fortunate to be the father of three daughters. People want to hold on to resentment and anger and blame and judgment, but Demi and I don't because of the kids. I credit her, really. She has such a generous spirit about the whole thing. 1 also have to give credit to Will Smith. PLAYBOY: What did he do?

WILLIS: During some very dark hours he talked to me about it. He said, "Dude, you've got to do whatever it takes to

get the kids and all the spouses or the girl­friend together. You've got to show your kids it's okay." It was like a light went on. Ding. So Will, thanks. And thanks for all those good movies you're making. PLAYBOY: How much time do you spend with your children these days? WILLIS: 1 see them every day. PLAYBOY: Has it humbled you to raise three daughters?

WILLIS: I've learned more about women from having three daughters than from my experiences with women. PLAYBOY: What did you learn? WILLIS: To be perfectly honest, 1 admit I'm not that much further down the path of knowing how women think. AI least I

can admit I don't know. I'm a lot closer to being in touch with my emotions than I was 10 years ago. I'm less of a Neander­thal, hopefully.

PLAYBOY: As a former and possibly cur­rent male predator, how have you dealt with your daughters' suitors? WILLIS: 1 certainly know what 16-year-old boys are thinking.

PLAYBOY: Were you an intimidating pres­ence lo guys who came to your house to pick up your daughters for dates? WILLIS: There were a couple of years when the gills were giving me shit about it. I wouldn't do anything demonstrative. I would just say, "1 want to meet them." PLAYBOY: With a shotgun? WILLIS: 1 don't need a shotgun. Just a look. My daughters will say, "Dad, you're scar­ing them." Me? Ashton has been a big help in this. He has a similar point of view. PLAYBOY: So you and Ashton share par­enting strategies?

WILLIS: Sure. Isn't that what the nuclear family is all about? We spent the holidays in Sun Valley. .Ashton and Demi have a big pool in the backyard, so it's a good house to come over and bring people to. He and I just stand at the door and say, "How are you doing?" They're all very polite. Ashton took one of the kids aside, asked him his name and said, jimmy, you're in charge of all your friends. You're respon­sible for them." The kid goes, "What?" I say, "That's right. Anything happens to one of these girls, we're going to take you apart first." It was a joke, but he got the point. The other side of that is, in

five minutes, the kids want to know how Pulp Fiction got made. My daughters say, "They came over to see me. and they're out there talking to you for an hour!" PLAYBOY: With your extended family, do you now have to bring potential girl­friends home lor the approval of not only your three children but your ex-wife and her husband?

WILLIS: It seldom gets to the point where I would subject my kids to someone I'm dat­ing; I'm reluctant to bring people around my kids. It doesn't happen often. I'm much more sanguine about dating these days, though. I don't make excuses about who I see or don't see. I've been scolded because I date 26-year-old girls. My feeling is that by the time you're 26 you have a right to choose who you want to see. If I acted old, they would choose not to be with me. PLAYBOY: Would you date a woman your age?

WILLIS: Anything's possible. Yes, probably. Fifty-two? I don't know. I have nothing against women my age. I have friends from high school I still go out with. No matter what age they are, I'm always amazed when I hear my friends say, "Wow, I met this great girl. We've been going out for four months." How do they do it? Staying with somebody for four days is a task. PLAYBOY: What have your daughters told you about women you were with? Did you listen?

WILLIS: Damn right, 1 listened. If there were somebody I just couldn't live with­out, I'd say, "Look, Daddy's in love, and you've got to cut me some slack on this

one." But yeah. I've gotten the thumbs-down from time to time. PLAYBOY: Would you like to fall in love? WILLIS: At the beginning of his Fool for Love script, Sam Shepard wrote. "The proper response to love is to accept it." For lack of a better one, it's a good theory. PLAYBOY: You once said, "1 don't believe in the general success of long-term fidel­ity or monogamy.' Still? WILLIS: I said that looking at the stats. The numbers speak for themselves. Chris Rock said, "A man is only as faithful as his options." He's got a point. PLAYBOY: Is this your way of saying you're a confirmed bachelor? WILLIS: Until proven otherwise. I'm open for a miracle, but I'm not holding my breath. I would like to have more kids. I'm a great dad; it's something 1 do well. The idea of having a boy is still in my mind. PLAYBOY: Have you anticipated becoming a grandfather?

WILLIS: No, but I probably should. I'm getting there.

PLAYBOY: Are you still performing with your band?

WILLIS: I haven't in a while. Playing with my band is a way of expressing myself that is pure unadulterated fun. There's Frank Sinatra, there's Barbra Streisand, and then there's how I sing. I don't take it very seriously, but I don't have to. PLAYBOY: Do you listen to a lot of music? WILLIS: Driving the kids to school at one point I realized they were getting a steady diet of' (irease 2. so I started their educa­tion in classic rock—the Beatles, Stones, Who. Spencer Davis Group, Traffic. Scout just turned me on to this band called Bei­rut that's awesome. I turned my daughter on to Neil Young, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. She went berserk over Neil Young. PLAYBOY: Being 52 years old is one thing, but do you imagine yourself at 70? WILLIS: I try not to. 1 have good genes from my mom, the German genes. I drink a ton of water, and they say that's good for you. I look after my health as well as I can. 1 try to eat well. PLAYBOY: Do you work out? WILLIS: Yes, but I've been lazy lately because 1 worked out so much during the film. I was hiking yesterday. I just try to keep myself so I'm not aching. PLAYBOY: Did any of your kids inherit your famous smirk?

WILLIS: Tallulah has it a little bit. She looks the most like me. only beautiful. All three have my sense of humor. It cracks me up. PLAYBOY: When you're walking down the street, do people hit you with your famous lines?

WILLIS: Yeah. "1 see dead people." "Yippec-ki-yay, motherfucker." "Zed's dead, baby," from Piil/> Fiction. Who knew? Are we done with the interview? I'll see you in 10 years. PLAYBOY: For Dif Hind 6? WILLIS: We'll cut right to Die Hard lc). It'll save me some wear and tear.

A candid conversation with the Die Hard hero about leaving the GOP, hanging out with Demi and Ashton and how he became a reformed asshole

Hopefully, we get a bit wiser.

Nobody ever feels their age.

In my heart I'm still 25. But

I get that little knock every

once in a while that says,

"You're not 25, kid."

We can go to the newsstand

right now, and I bet we'll

find something being said

about me. Gossip has become

entertainment; it's part of a

billion-dollar industry.