MOVIES Willis' everyman is everywhere

The ubiquitous Bruce Willis stars in two anticipated films this spring.
By ROBERT W. BUTLER
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
It sometimes seems that Bruce Willis has always been with us. At least he seems always to have a movie playing in theaters.
But it's been a while (1999's "Sixth Sense," to be exact) since he's appeared in a movie that enjoyed both unreserved thumbs-up from the critics and widespread popularity at the box office.
This spring Willis could pull off that coup with two movies.
His self-produced action-thriller, "Hostage," opened Friday. This nail-biter casts Willis as a former big-city hostage negotiator -- now a suburban police chief -- who must scramble to save a family whose home has been invaded by young thugs. Meanwhile, his own family has been kidnapped by shadowy bad guys who want to ensure a certain outcome to the home-invasion incident.
And April 1 Willis will appear in "Sin City," a noir thriller that attempts to duplicate, frame for frame, the Frank Miller graphic novels on which it is based.
Speaking by telephone from Los Angeles, Willis said that virtually no movie star can afford to sit back and wait for producers to approach them with plum roles. Actors who want to keep working must be proactive, creating their own production companies and developing projects in which to appear.
"Right now I own the rights to a handful of books that I think could make good movies. I've got thrillers like 'The Protector' and 'Black Water Transit,' but I've also got some factual stuff like 'King Cohn' (based on the life of much-hated Hollywood producer Harry Cohn).
"In the case of 'Hostage' I read the novel and checked on the rights the following day. They were available, and we snapped them up. Three and a half years later, the movie's coming out."
His babies
Willis, who turns 50 next week, said he pays more attention to the kinds of movies he makes than he did just a few years ago. For "Hostage" he not only hired the writers and directors, but he also made sure he was on the set every day -- even when he wasn't required for a scene.
"I'm the producer. This is my baby," he said. "So I was husbanding this project all the way through.
"And you know what's been really gratifying about 'Hostage'? We've been getting an unexpectedly strong reaction from women. I wouldn't define this as an action film -- it's really more of a thriller -- but still it's great that women are enjoying it, and I attribute it to the fact that it's essentially a movie about family.
"Actually three families. There's my character's family, which has been placed in jeopardy. There's the family inside the house. And then there's the broken family of the three young men who set everything in motion by invading the house.
"And on top of that, my character has a painful vulnerability from having failed to negotiate a hostage release years before. We're used to seeing movie heroes so confident that you know they'll win in the end, but here I get to play a guy who looks like he'll never overcome the obstacles facing him."
Among his "Hostage" co-stars is Willis' oldest daughter, 17-year-old Rumer. She's cast as Willis' endangered daughter.
"But she had to audition for it," the proud papa claimed. "She came in and did a really good job."
It was the first time Rumer had worked with her dad, although she had acted with her mom, Willis' ex, Demi Moore.
Having his own flesh and blood portray a kidnap victim was cathartic, Willis said. "It allowed me to start from a much higher point of departure emotionally. I carried a little Polaroid of her tied up and gagged that we use in the film, and whenever I had to play scared or distraught, all I had to do was look at that photo and consider my own kid in that situation."
'Sin City'
Then there's the much-anticipated "Sin City." Willis said he was approached by director Robert Rodriguez, who lured the actor with a three-minute long DVD that suggested the radical visual style Rodriguez wanted to employ.
"I only had to watch the first minute before telling him I was in," Willis said. "Honestly it's been a long time since I've been this excited about a project."
The cast members -- among them Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Benicio Del Toro, Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Michael Madsen, Rosario Dawson and Mickey Rourke -- performed against green screens. Their surroundings are generated on computers.
"When you see this dazzling film, you will be blown away," Willis promised. "In fact, you'll go back and see it a couple of more times just to catch it all. It was made with brand-new technology that allowed us to work incredibly fast. The 10 days I worked on the movie were the equivalent of five weeks on a traditional film."
Rodriguez and Miller co-directed.
"After every take I'd turn to Robert first to see if we got the take. Then I'd turn to Frank to make sure the performance was true to his vision.
"It's a stretch, acting without a set around you. You're working a different set of acting muscles. But Robert and Frank were there to walk us through. And I truly believe this is a movie that rewrites the rules on how movies are made."