Learned something new about Die Hard yesterday. Apparently, the book it's based on was the sequel to the book The Detective that was made into a movie in the 60s with Frank Sinatra as the lead. As part of his deal, he had a contractual right of first refusal for any sequels. So, when they started casting Die Hard, they had to offer him the lead role. Since he was 70, he passed. Then everyone else in Hollywood passed as well and they ended up settling on Bruce Willis.


Edit-Nevermind. I just clicked on the Twitter link and see much of this was addressed.

These two tweets and me rolling

Filming Hans’ iconic fall from the Nakatomi, McTiernan persuaded Rickman to do the stunt himself. The effects co-ordinated said that they’d drop him at the count of 3 but secretly arranged to drop him on 1 to capture genuine fear and terror in Rickman’s eyes.

40/43 pic.twitter.com/ZqzpWf6p7t

— All The Right Movies (@ATRightMovies) December 24, 2024

Reginald VelJohnson drove the car for real when it reverses and crashes over the wall. McTiernan said “he’s not a superhero, he’s doing the best he can. So I deliberately made it goofy.” VelJohnson didn’t want to do it but he was eager to please and nailed it in 2 takes.

26/43 pic.twitter.com/wwiluQ38j8

— All The Right Movies (@ATRightMovies) December 24, 2024

They dropped Alan Rickman on 2 instead of 3 to get that reaction. One take

Eliminatus said:

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hunter2012 said:

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One of the most satisfying moments in cinema history.

RIP Alan Rickman. One of the greatest

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He was fantastic.

10andBOUNCE said:

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This year I made the tough call and decided to remove Die Hard from the Christmas genre.

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Lathspell said:

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It's not Christmas until Hanz Gruber falls from Nakatomi Tower.

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It's like the ball dropping on New Years Eve.

I love Die Hard and it's a classic but Die Hard 2 was always my favorite. It just fit perfectly in the 90s action movie genre. Awesome cast too.

It was years until I actually saw the real movie, not the tv version. It was quite the party.

RikkiTikkaTagem said:

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Rewatching it, I realized growing up, I didn't know VelJohnsons last name as Powell. So had a lot of confusion betwern when Willis was saying "Powell" and "Pal"

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Guilty.

Town just north of Southlake on 377 named after the limo driver…