The Whole Nine Yards is remembered by fans as one of the better comedies in Bruce Willis’ filmography. The film sees the beloved star play a gangster-turned-snitch who tries to start a new life for himself in Montreal and gets entwined in the life of a miserable dentist (a mid-Friends Matthew Perry) with a controlling and demanding wife (Rosanna Arquette) who wants to collect the mob bounty on his head. It’s a fun movie, and co-star Amanda Peet recalls a specific way that Willis kept the atmosphere fun on set.
The crime comedy is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, having first arrived in theaters in February 2000, and Peet reflected on her time making the movie recently during a red carpet interview with Entertainment Tonight. The actress, currently starring in the new Apple TV+ series Your Friends And Neighbors with Jon Hamm, was asked about the making of the movie, and she highlighted a special item that Bruce Willis had strung up in his living space that she felt exemplified the air of the whole experience. Said Peet,
They really took care of me, I want you to know. … It’s scary being with Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry, and they couldn’t have been more fun, first of all. So fun, so naughty. Bruce Willis had a disco ball installed in his suite in Montreal. That really says it all. … It was just a really special time.
Amanda Peet was still very much in the early years of her career during the making of The Whole Nine Yards (just five years removed from her feature film debut in 1995’s Animal Room starring Neil Patrick Harris and Matthew Lillard, but she recalls her more experienced co-stars not letting her get overwhelmed. And one would think that it would be hard to be stressed when you’re hanging out with one of the biggest stars in the world under the twinkling glow of a disco ball.
In the movie, Amanda Peet plays Jill St. Clair – who is introduced as the dental hygenist for Matthew Perry‘s Nicholas “Oz” Oseransky but is eventually revealed as a contract killer who was hired by his wife to kill him. She ends up striking up a romance with Brice Willis’ Jimmy “The Tulip” Tudeski, and they end the film as a happy couple.
The Whole Nine Yards, which also featured the talents of Michael Clarke Duncan, Natasha Henstridge, and Kevin Pollak, got a divisive response from critics, but it ended up being a huge hit with audiences. The movie ended its theatrical run making over $100 million, and Peet, Henstridge Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry reprised their respective roles four years later in the sequel The Whole Ten Yards (Pollak is also in the movie, but playing a new character).
Should any of you be interested in giving The Whole Nine Yards a watch in celebration of its quarter-century anniversary, it’s not currently available on any subscription services, but it is streaming with ads on Xumo. It’s also available for rental and purchase from all major online retailers, including Amazon Prime Video.