Bruce Willis and Terry Gilliam Fought Over This Major Scene in ’12 Monkeys’

Like most actors, Bruce Willis has a role that’s the first thing people think of when his name enters a conversation. That role happens to be blue collar cop John McClane from the Die Hard films. McClane’s dry wit, as well as his tenacity in the face of various crises, made Die Hard into an action classic. Willis was more than happy to bring McClane’s energy to other performances, most notably Korben Dallas in The Fifth Element. But one film, and one director in particular, saw Willis acting outside his comfort zone – resulting in one of the best performances of his career. That movie is Terry Gilliam‘s time travel thriller 12 Monkeys.

12 Monkeys stars Willis as James Cole, who travels back in time to help develop a cure for a virus that’s decimated humanity. Cole is pulled through the past, present and future as he attempts to stop the virus, which takes a toll on his sanity. Cole also finds an unlikely ally in Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe), though it takes a bit of convincing on her part. One of Cole & Railly’s scenes was unlike anything Willis had done, and in a case of life mirroring art, Gilliam wound up talking him into it.

12 Monkeys

In 12 Monkeys, convict James Cole (Bruce Willis) travels back in time to learn the origin of a man-made virus that has unleashed worldwide chaos in the future. Terry Gilliam’s 1995 sci-fi movie, which boasts a cast that includes Brad Pitt, Christopher Plummer, Madeleine Stowe, and David Morse, is based on Chris Marker’s 1962 short film La Jetée and originated a 2013 TV series adaptation.

Release Date

January 5, 1995

Director

Terry Gilliam

Cast

Joseph Melito , Bruce Willis , Jon Seda , Michael Chance , Vernon Campbell , H. Michael Walls

Runtime

129 minutes

Main Genre

Sci-Fi

Writers

Chris Marker , David Webb Peoples , Janet Peoples

Studio

Universal Pictures

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Terry Gilliam and Bruce Willis Butted Heads Over a Fight Scene in ‘12 Monkeys’

The scene that Gilliam and Willis had an argument about takes place at the midpoint of the film, when one of Cole’s time travel trips sends him to 1996 – the same year the virus broke out. He tracks Railly down and kidnaps her, locking her in the trunk of a car… but when he opens the trunk later, she kicks him in the face, sending him reeling. During a retrospective for 12 Monkeys‘ 25th anniversary, Gilliam discussed how Willis was hesitant to film the scene, as he believed that Cole wouldn’t go down that easily:

And he opens the trunk and she kicks him in the face with her high-heeled shoes and he said, “I wouldn’t go down.” I said, “F–k off, Bruce!” (
Laughs.
) “You’d go down!” He said, “No!” That was one of the funnier moments. The stunt guy said, “Yeah, Bruce, you’d go down.” And he said, “No, I wouldn’t.” I said, “You’re not John McClane, f-0k off!” He just went off and sulked by a tree and I just carried on shooting on without him and finally he came back. “OK. Yeah I’ll do it. It’s bullshit.” That was really the only difficult moment.

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The fight scene was apparently the only disagreement the two had, since Gilliam had made it clear to Willis that 12 Monkeys was a very different film from Die Hard. Stowe also discussed how Willis brought a “childlike innocence” to his performance as Cole that Gilliam worked hard to refine in the editing room. A key example comes during the scene where Cole first meets Railly. At first, he seems to be in the throes of insanity, rocking back and forth and muttering to himself. But soon, when Cole starts talking about how fresh the air is, a note of wonder comes into his voice. Willis layers his performance with notes of desperation and awe that result in a compelling watch, and it’s a far cry from the cynical, snarky roles he’d played up to that point.

’12 Monkeys’ Remains One of Bruce Willis’ Best Movies

What makes 12 Monkeys such a compelling watch isn’t just Willis’ performance, it’s the fact that it isn’t like any time travel movie that had been released up to that point. Instead of the action-packed firefights of The Terminator or the fish-out-of-water comedy of Back to the Future, 12 Monkeys explores the psychological toll that time travel would take on a person. Cole is constantly being jerked back and forth between time periods, even landing in the wrong era; on top of that, no one in the past believes him. It’s no wonder that he finds himself locked in a mental asylum, and as the film progresses, he begins to wonder if he truly is sane. A dark twist of irony is that the scientists who send Cole back to the past pick him due to his “strong mind”. 12 Monkeys also features one of the bleakest endings in science fiction history, which is a far cry from how time travel tales go.

It’s a testament to Gilliam’s work, which often defies convention, and Willis’ performance that 12 Monkeys still resonates. It also shows that more actors get great performances if they step outside their comfort zones. By taking a different path with 12 Monkeys, Willis showed that he could do drama as well as action, leading to the one-two punch of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable — both considered to be M. Night Shyamalan‘s best work. And all it took was getting kicked in the face with high heels.

12 Monkeys is currently available to rent or buy from Prime Video in the U.S.

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