Back in March, word broke that Bruce Willis was retiring from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, a rare brain disorder that impacts cognitive abilities. But he’s not entirely going away from the public eye. For the 34th anniversary of the original Die Hard, his wife, Emma Heming Willis, posted a video of him returning to the scene of the crime.
The video begins with a black-and-white image of Willis atop the Fox Plaza building, which was used — shortly after its completion, in 1987 — as the exterior shots for Nakatomi Plaza, the setting for the film that turned the actor from TV star to movie star. He can be seen looking poignantly over Los Angeles from the roof. The video then proceeds to a montage from the film, made when he still had a couple seasons left on Moonlighting.
The video is made even more moving by a key line towards the end of Die Hard, when his thief-battling NYPD cop declares, “I promise I will never even think about going up in a tall building again.”
News of Willis’ diagnosis shocked the world, and it even led to the Razzies rescinding a trophy they’d awarded him (from an entire category devoted to him). It even led Kevin Smith, who directed him in the comedy Cop Out, to apologize for complaining about their time working together.
(Via Deadline)