On the set of “Armageddon”: Spacious Bruce Willis gave away his money

It’s been over 25 years since Bruce Willis (69) willingly sacrificed his life to save the earth in the action blockbuster “Armageddon: The Last Judgment.” As selfless as he turned out to be as a grumpy oil drilling expert and temporary astronaut at the end of the film, the star was apparently just as generous throughout filming. Successful producer Jerry Bruckheimer (80), who also had a hand in the 1998 film, has now revealed the leading actor’s generous giving mood.

According to this, the film crew held a kind of lottery once a week in which a lucky winner could win a previously thrown together sum of cash. “Bruce is such a fine guy,” Bruckheimer remembers: “He was so generous to the crew. […] He threw a lot of money into the hat every time and whoever won took home a nice extra sum at the end of the week.” In general, Willis was a “giver” and “good friend,” Bruckheimer continued.

In the prime of his creativity

Finding the money necessary for such largesse should not have been a problem for Willis, especially at the time of “Armageddon” – at least since “Die Hard” in 1988, he has been one of the biggest Hollywood stars and made several blockbusters every year. With box office earnings of over $550 million, “Armageddon” was also the most commercially successful film of 1998.

As is well known, Bruce Willis had to end his unprecedented Hollywood career around two years ago. In March 2022, his family announced with a heavy heart that he would have to retire due to aphasia, a language disorder. A year later it was announced that the Hollywood star had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.