Bruce Willis covers Esquire Magazine June/ July 2012, the Fatherhood Edition.
And, although there are quotes here and there about the parenting of his daughters, it’s mainly a boilerplate interview about making another Die Hard movie, his career, politics, fitness, and the media scrutiny with Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore; although, the latter is only addressed indirectly because Willis “eschews turmoil” (FYI: he really likes the word “eschew”).
On making another Die Hard movie: “I’d call it what it is: Die Hard 5. I’m glad to have John McClane. There is no turmoil about it for me. I eschew turmoil. I just try to go to work, and concentrate on coming home to my girls.”
On not courting publicity: “I don’t have an ax to grind,” he says. “I don’t have anything I want to say. I might have gone off once… But I don’t have a tough life. I know that… I’m happy. Actively happy. I eschew turmoil.”
On his workouts: Willis details nothing about the workout, calling it only “the gym.” He’s going back at 4:00. The gym. It’s not a requirement. “That’s just me,” he says. “I’m coming off a phase where I allowed myself baked goods. I sought them out. I did not hold back on baked goods. So, the gym… The day this job gets tough will be the day I can’t run. The day I can’t move quickly or knock somebody out; at least look like I knocked somebody out, convincingly. There is a limit. An end point. It’s mostly physical. So, the gym.”
On his politics: “I get cranked up, I start talking about Hollywood and what’s wrong with what. Or politics. I might start in on Mitt Romney.” Romney? “Yeah, Romney. He’s just such a disappointment, an embarrassment. Chin up, hair up. He’s just one of those guys, one of those guys who says he’s going to change everything… And he’ll get in there, and they’ll smile at him and introduce themselves: ‘We’re Congress, we make sure nothing changes.’ He won’t do it. He can’t. Everybody wants to be Barack Obama. And what did he change?” You think Romney’ll win? “No. Nah. I don’t really care.”
On relaxing as he gets older: “Now I’m fun, just with fewer people. I’m in love with my wife and my kids. I require very little. Friends come over, the kids come over when they can. We eat dinner. And I’m happy to play along with their momentum. I save it for them. This is it. I’m happy. This is how I’m doing. That’s my fun.”
On his favorite movie: “I like a little movie I did in the early nineties called Mortal Thoughts. The part was hardly written, but I learned a lot making it. No one remembers it.”
On missing his old life: “Every once in a while I want to go to a diner. I want to go to Junior’s. Or Nate ‘n Al’s. A good, cheap diner. That’s an East Coast thing. Like the rice pudding in New York. So good. Only in diners. I search for it here, but it’s not the same. Though there’s a place on Fairfax. I can’t think of the name.”
Parenting rules: “Sometimes I have to resist the urge to speak. I learned it from dealing with my kids. That’s my number-one rule. It applies in life… But it’s more about being a father. I’d rather hear what they have to say. You learn more by listening. And this stuff is just a matter of not equating drama with actions that will help them. Teach them to shun drama.”
More rules: “Take responsibility for when you are wrong… They hear you own up, and they learn to own up….You have to give them a code… Beginning with things like ‘Don’t bite people.’ That becomes something like ‘It’s not okay to be mean. Ever.’ That was our watchword when the girls were younger.” - via Esquire Magazine.
