Ever since their onscreen appearance in Armageddon in 1998, Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis have been great friends. Appreciation for their amazing on-screen chemistry has been the talk of the town for decades now, and with that came fans’ wish to see them share the same screen again. However, fans are not the only ones who would love to see the pair acting together once more. In fact, it is none other than Bruce Willis himself who wanted to recreate that chemistry again.
Reportedly, the Golden Globes nominee headlining Die Hard franchise almost brought them together on screen again, but it fell apart at the end due to some unforeseeable circumstances. Although Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s performance as Lucy in the Live Free or Die Hard movie won people’s hearts, after such a revelation fans are inevitably wondering what it would have been like if it featured Ben Affleck as Willis’ son as it was planned originally.
Bruce Willis wanted Ben Affleck for the Die Hard sequel
It turns out, Bruce Willis wanted to recreate his onscreen chemistry with Ben Affleck once again in the Die Hard franchise. Affleck was supposed to play the role of Willis’ son, who was supposed to have a significant role in the movie as well. However, as the story progressed, they had to change the character to a daughter, aka Lucy McClane, who was played in the end by Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
Now, whether it was the fact that Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck do not exactly resemble each other, or that there is only a thirteen-year age gap between them, or the role’s downgrade in importance is what ended up scrapping Ben Affleck’s character in the franchise, it is hard to tell. It seems they did however end up including some characteristics of Affleck’s scrapped role into John McClane’s sort of partner, hacker Matt Farell, played by Justin Long.
Ben Affleck’s Hollywood Career
It’s no secret that Ben Affleck’s career was on somewhat of a dry stretch during the almost Die Hard franchise casting. With a number of flops stacking up, things were looking kind of grim back then. It would have been interesting to see the impact Die Hard could have had on his career at that time, however, even with being replaced, things did turn out pretty well for the Oscar winner.
The first stroke of luck was the critics’ appraisal he got for his role as George Reeves in Hollywoodland, after which he started moving up the ladder again. From being replaced in the $388 million Die Hard sequel to headlining in the $837.6 million Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, things have only gotten better and better for Affleck. And with him reprising his role as Batman in the upcoming The Flash movie, fans are excited to see what he has in store for them.
However, they still seem to wish to see the Armageddon co-stars bringing their amazing chemistry on-screen again. As Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck both seem to wish for the same thing, it would be interesting to see if people will get to see them in the same movie in the future ever again.
The Flash is expected to arrive in theaters on June 16th, 2023.
Source: Movieweb
