LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Bruce Willis showed signs of aphasia while shooting ‘Midnight in the Switchgrass’ in 2020 as he used to forget where he was. The film's prop master said in the ABC News doc ‘The Randall Scandal' that the ‘Die Hard’ actor thought he was in a real diner while on a film set one time.
In the Hulu documentary that exposed producer and director Randall Emmett for his alleged abusive behavior, a crew member from the film, Alicia Haverland, said that while shooting a scene set in a diner, Willis believed he was in a diner and addressed her as if she were a waitress, reports Insider.
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Explaining the incident, she said, "I go over to repour the coffee, and we're probably doing take number seven or eight, and he puts his hand on the coffee, looks me dead in the eye, and goes, 'Oh no, ma'am, I don't want anymore.'"
Willis asked 'waitress' on set if he had ordered more coffee
She said that she tried explaining him that she was refilling the coffee for the scene but he didn't seem to understand. Instead, according to Haverland, he asked her if he had ordered more coffee. Haverland recollected by saying that as her attempts to explain he was in a film set didn't work, she pretended to play along to complete the scene.
She said when she met him in 2020, he was "the sweetest, most soft-spoken man." However, because of the issues related to his illness, he needed an assistant for his lines and wore an earpiece at all times.
'You would have to be blind to not see him struggling'
The film's prop master also spoke to the Los Angeles Times and said, "Our stunt coordinator mentioned he was struggling. Our first AD saw he was struggling. You would have to be blind to not see him struggling." In March 2022, Willis decided to retire from acting following his aphasia diagnosis. His family members posted a joint statement announcing the actor’s retirement that read, as per Variety, “To Bruce’s amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities. As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him.”
Recently his wife, Heming Willis, got emotional and said in a video, “I have to tell you this story, and I’m going to try and do it without crying because when Evelyn [their daughter] told me this story, I was an absolute puddle. She says, ‘Well, I was at school the other day, and I had some free time and I was looking at fun facts about dementia.' Now that’s not funny, but it’s kind of funny. And she really is her father’s child because these two love some just random facts. So I said to her, ‘OK, Evelyn, we will always make sure that Daddy has a bottle of water in hand. Thank you for letting me know.’ I said, ‘That is the most loving and compassionate thing that you can do is to be curious and educate yourself on your dad’s disease."
