Films - Bruce Willis Uncredited

From bit parts and cameos to big budget movies, here's a reminder of some film appearances that even Bruce Willis didn’t put his name to, for various reasons, as Susan Omand found out a few years back...

We all know the blockbuster films that Bruce Willis has been in, because his name and face are plastered all over the credits and posters as a main selling point of the film – “Bruce Willis’ new movie” guaranteed bums on seats and cash tills ringing. However, there are a few films where he’s not the main attraction, where, although you know it’s him and he makes an impact on the screen, his name doesn’t even flash up in the long list of Location 3 Extras in the interminable credits at the end. Yes, there are some films for which Bruce Willis doesn’t want credit.

Obviously when he was starting out in the acting route, early appearances were often as uncredited extras, like “Man entering diner” in The First Deadly Sin in 1980, or “Courtroom Observer” in The Verdict. But it’s his later uncredited appearances that are more interesting.

He quite often appeared in cameo roles either as himself (as in Ocean’s Twelve) or as a character he was known for, like Die Hard’s John McClane aka Man whose Caravan Gets Blown Up in National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon.

 


He has also appeared in other films in uncredited cameos, the most notable being Mr Church in The Expendables (although he receives credit in the sequel for the same character).

But the biggest, and most perplexing, uncredited role would have to be in Four Rooms, as Leo in the Quentin Tarantino section “The Man from Hollywood”. Perplexing because this is not a small part or a 1 minute cameo appearance.

Four Rooms is a 1995 anthology comedy with four different directors each directing one segment of the film. The Quentin Tarantino section is based on the adult short fiction writings of Roald Dahl’s Man from the South. The whole film story is set in the fictional Hotel Mon Signor in Los Angeles on New Year's Eve. The Penthouse suite is the setting and Bruce Willis plays Leo, one of Tarantino’s friends, who argues with his wife on the phone, tries to explain a film and it’s all good fun until someone loses a little finger.



Apparently, the reason given for Bruce Willis not being credited was that it was done to get round a violation of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) rules for acting in a film for no money. He appeared for fun and just did it as a favour to Quentin Tarantino, so SAG agreed not to sue Willis if his name was not included in the credits, although it is probably now one of his most famous uncredited roles.

If you include credited appearances, Bruce Willis has been in more films than a lot of people, but it’s these snatched cameos, the sudden realisation of “Is that who I think it is?” that I think are the most fun.

Image - IMDb