Sunday, 3 June 2007

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Bruce Willis tells daughters' boyfriends to watch out

He's a tough guy when it comes to girls' suitors

It wasn't a stretch for Bruce Willis to play an over-protective father his new movie, Live Free or Die Hard, out June 27.

"I can relate to it, but that's overly dramatized in the film," Willis, 52, told reporters Friday at a press event for the movie at Woodley Park in Van Nuys, Calif.

"My relationship with my daughters is a lot more upfront than that, and what we've done, as parents, is to try and send the girls out in the world with as much information about what those 16- and 18-year-old boys are thinking, and hopefully that'll keep them safe."

Willis is dad to Rumer, 18; Scout, 15; and Tallulah, 13, with ex-wife Demi Moore. And while he might not blow up terrorists like his Die Hard character John McClane, he admits he's a bit of a tough guy when it comes to his daughters' suitors.

"I'm not hard at all," he said with a smile. "I just tell [the boys] I want to meet them – that's the only thing I ask for. I just give them that look, that little look."

Another intimidation technique? "I always put one of them in charge," he said. "If they bring a little group of guys over to the house to have a pool party or whatever, I just say, 'Dude, what's your name?' and he says, 'Uh, Cinjun.' I say, 'Cinjun, you're in charge. If anything happens to one of my daughters, I'm coming to you first, and then I'm going to kill all your friends right in front of you, and you'll be last.' Cinjun, if you're listening to this ..."

Apparently, the girls managed to emerge well-adjusted. Said Justin Long, who plays Willis' geeky, computer-hacking sidekick in the film: "I had the good fortune of meeting the daughters, and they're all very smart, very elevated. They made fun of us mercilessly, but in a very witty, mature way. So someone did a good job."