Bruce Willis movie filmed in Alabama to be released in 2023
Remember the movie Bruce Willis filmed in Alabama in 2021? The sci-fi thriller, now called “Assassin,” is set for release on March 31, in select theaters and video-on-demand.
Jesse Atlas, director of the film, announced the news on Wednesday, Jan. 4, in an Instagram post. “My feature directing debut ASSASSIN in theaters 3/31!,” Atlas said. “Written by yours truly and @theaaronwolfe!”
Atlas also included a screenshot from a Jan. 4 article in USA Today that listed “All the movies you’ll want to watch in 2023.” The article mentions “Assassin,” released by Saban Films.
The movie originally was scheduled for release in fall 2022, according to media reports, but was bumped to spring 2023.
IMDB describes the storyline of “Assassin” this way: “When revolutionary, experimental human drone tech falls into enemy hands, it’s up to the leader of an elite C.I.A. group (Bruce Willis) and his team to draft a black-ops soldier into service to retrieve the weapons system at any cost. Co-starring Dominic Purcell (’DC’s Legends of Tomorrow’), ‘Assassin’ is a pulse-pounding sci-fi action thriller.”
READ: Bruce Willis, Crimson Tide fan? Actor spotted in Hoover wearing Alabama gear
Willis was spotted in the Birmingham area when filming for the movie was underway here in June 2021. At the time, the film was called “Die Like Lovers,” although an April 2021 report by Deadline listed the title as “Soul Assassin.”
Along with Willis and Purcell, the cast includes Nomzamo Mbatha, Eugenia Kuzmina, Andy Allo, Christian Rodrigo and Fernanda Andrade. Birmingham actor Chris Mullinax plays a bodyguard, according to IMDB. A trailer for “Assassin” hasn’t been released yet.
“Assassin” is based on a 2017 short film by Atlas, “Let Them Die Like Lovers,” about a body-hopping assassin who starts to question her identity and the morality of her violent assignments. In the short, directed by Atlas and written by Atlas and Aaron Wolfe, the assassin is a woman named Alex (played by Angela Lewis).
“Assassin” appears to be one of the last movies filmed by Willis, who retired from acting last year. Social media posts by the actor’s daughter, Rumer Willis, and other family members revealed in March 2022 that Willis has been diagnosed with aphasia, a brain disorder.
It’s “a condition that robs you of the ability to communicate,” according to the Mayo Clinic. “It can affect your ability to speak, write and understand language, both verbal and written.”
Willis had shown signs of cognitive decline on movie sets in recent years and struggled to remember his lines, according to a March 2022 report by the Los Angeles Times.
The actor, 67, has long been one of the most recognizable figures in the entertainment industry. He earned international fame for his starring role in the “Die Hard” film series, but his long list of credits includes “Pulp Fiction,” “12 Monkeys,” “The Sixth Sense,” “Sin City,” “The Fifth Element,” “Motherless Brooklyn,” “Unbreakable,” “Glass” and more.
Willis had about a dozen films in the pipeline as of fall 2021, according to IMDB. At the time, most of them were in post-production or set to debut in 2021-2022. The list included “Vendetta,” “Paradise City,” “Corrective Measures” and “A Day to Die.”
Willis also filmed an action trilogy, “Detective Knight,” as one of his final projects. The franchise includes “Detective Knight: Rogue,” “Detective Knight: Redemption” and “Detective Knight: Independence.” Two of the three movies were released in 2022; the third is set for release on Jan. 20.
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