Sylvester Stallone Reacts to Bruce Willis Retiring From Acting
Sylvester Stallone shares a touching tribute to his friend Bruce Willis in honor of his retirement from acting. While both stars are now well-known for making action films, they had very different beginnings in the industry. Although Stallone was kicking around the industry for quite a while, taking small uncredited roles in low budget productions, his first major claim to fame was writing and starring in the boxing drama Rocky, which ended up winning three Oscars including Best Picture and launching a successful film franchise as well as making Stallone's name mostly synonymous with action. In addition to the Rocky sequels, he went on to star in films like First Blood (which launched the Rambo franchise), Cobra, and Tango & Cash.
Willis, on the other hand, didn't become an action hero until he was already a household name. In 1985, the actor got his big break when he began appearing on the dramedy series Moonlighting, in which he co-starred with Cybill Shepherd as a pair of detectives with a will-they-won't-they relationship. The show ran for five seasons, right up until his starring role in the 1988 blockbuster action film Die Hard launched his action movie career into the stratosphere. He continued to star in a variety of movies from different genres throughout his career, though his position as an iconic action star landed him a role in Stallone's 2010 directorial feature The Expendables and its first sequel, which crammed as many action stars into the same film as possible.
Yesterday, Bruce Willis officially announced his retirement from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia. On his Instagram, Stallone posted a series of photos of the two of them from throughout the years. Three of the five photos are from the era of The Expendables, but two earlier photos show the two of them goofing off long before they got the chance to work together. Stallone included the caption "We go back a long way, praying for the best for you and your wonderful family..." Check out the post below:
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Although Willis and Stallone didn't work together until late in their careers, they have circled around one another in the industry for quite some time. This includes Willis eventually taking the role in the remake of Death Wish that was originally being considered for Stallone. However, the pair's friendship runs deep, as they both were involved in supporting the restaurant franchise Planet Hollywood after it opened in 1991, along with their future Expendables co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger.
One thing that fans can always be grateful for is the fact that the two larger-than-life stars were able to work together at some point in their careers. A world without a Stallone and Willis collaboration wouldn't quite make sense. Even though the pair haven't worked together in about a decade, it's certainly moving that they are still in each other's lives and on each other's minds.
Source: Sylvester Stallone/Instagram