Bruce Willis has revealed that a 1998 flop, "Mercury Rising", was the wake-up call that pushed him away from formulaic action films. After his brother pointed out that the film's action sequences were derivative of movies he had already made, Willis said "a bell rang in my head", prompting him to seek roles "without a gun in my hand" rather than continuing to coast on his established Die Hard-style persona.

Following Pulp Fiction, Willis had leaned heavily into familiar action fare such as Die Hard with a Vengeance, Last Man Standing, The Jackal and The Fifth Element, with only Twelve Monkeys standing out as a genuine departure. After Mercury Rising, he diversified into films including The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, The Kid, The Whole Nine Yards, Bandits and Hart's War, before eventually returning to action with 2003's Tears of the Sun, having appeared in nine films in the interim.