Bruce Willis Was ‘So Generous’ to ‘Armageddon’ Crew: Producer (Exclusive)

As legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer gears up to release several movies this summer, including Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, Bad Boys: Ride or Die and Young Woman and the Sea, he’s looking back on one of his past seasonal blockbusters.

In the 1998 hit Armageddon, which Bruckheimer produced, NASA enlists a group of oil drillers to fly into space, land on a massive asteroid that’s hurtling towards Earth, drill into the rock and insert a nuclear bomb to destroy it.

The movie starred Bruce Willis, Liv Tyler, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton and Owen Wilson.

And though the premise was out of this world, Bruckheimer says Willis was incredibly down to Earth — and deeply kind on the film’s set.

“Bruce is such a good guy,” says Bruckheimer. “He was so generous to the crew.”

Bruckheimer says that at the end of each week, Willis always contributed to cash giveaways for the crew.

“They’d have drawings, and he’d throw a lot of money in the hat, and the crew members would always take away some nice extra cash at the end of the week, whoever won,” continues Bruckheimer.

Bruckheimer adds that Willis is a “giving guy” and calls him a “good friend.”

Willis, 69, who was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2003, retired from acting the year prior.

On April 18, several of Willis’s Pulp Fiction costars gathered at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood to celebrate the film’s 30th anniversary. Though Willis did not attend, his wife, Emma Hemming Willis, and daughter, Tallulah Willis (whom he shares with ex-wife Demi Moore), went in his stead.

On the red carpet, John Travolta shared fond memories of his Pulp Fiction costar.

“Bruce and I had a history. We did Look Who’s Talking together, and we had a massive success with it,” Travolta told Entertainment Tonight. “So we were [friends]. We had been on vacation together, Kelly [Preston] and I with Bruce and Demi [Moore]. So this was not new. We were comfortable with each other.”