On April 29, 2021, it was announced that
Bruce Willis would star in
Soul Assassin, a thriller film in which
Nomzamo Mbatha and
Dominic Purcell entered negotiations to star. Filming began on June 15, 2021, in
Bessemer, Alabama. In July 2021,
Saban Films acquired the distribution rights to the film. In the same month, Barry Jay Minoff was cast in an undisclosed role, while Jeff Elliott was revealed to have produced the film, through Endless Media Brickell & Broadbridge International, alongside 120 dB Films. In August 2021,
Mustafa Shakir was cast in an undisclosed role. The film was retitled to
Die Like Lovers and later to its current title
Assassin. By May 2022,
Hannah Quinlivan and
Fernanda Andrade were cast.
Assassin is the final film of Willis's career. He retired from acting in 2022 after he was diagnosed with
aphasia, and was diagnosed with
frontotemporal dementia in 2023. ==Release==