One of the greatest films of all time, the 1988 action thriller Die Hard is known for several things. In addition to making Bruce Willis one of the industry’s highest-paid actors and cementing his place among Hollywood’s best action stars, the film played a significant role in reshaping the action film genre. Moving away from the traditional muscular portrayal of men, the action thriller left an indelible mark, forever changing the landscape of action films. The makers of the movie shared the same in Netflix’s The Movies That Made Us.
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Director Wanted To Avoid Toxic Masculinity in Die Hard
Before Die Hard, Hollywood movies featured muscle-bound heroes like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, whose characters were depicted to be invincible and infallible. While people loved such settings in the movies, the makers of the 1988 film Die Hard wanted to do something different.
“There was a tradition how those movies were made before,” said cinematographer Jan de Bont before adding, “And we wanted to break all those traditions.” And the film’s director, John McTiernan, who has worked with action stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator, agreed with him.
In the Netflix documentary The Movies That Made Us, McTiernan, shared, “It was a touch in a different direction,” as he explained, “Quite the opposite of this toxic masculinity, tough guy image.” He also shared that it was implied in some notable moments in the film through the lead and side characters.
“There were things all over the place, like the terrorist who notices there’s a candy in there. SWAT guy runs through the roses and gets pricked,” he shared. The filmmaker has also shared that he was not very keen on directing the movie until he was permitted to alter the script to bring some joy to the story.
John McTiernan Initially Had Reservations About Directing the Movie
When Die Hard initially went into development, hardly any renowned actor or filmmaker wanted to join the project. Before the makers cast Bruce Willis, they approached popular actors at the time, including Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Burt Reynolds, and many others.
And similarly, the movie was passed down from the RoboCop director Paul Verhoeven. After which, it was offered to John McTiernan. However, he also denied the offer as he was not interested in doing a “terrorist movie.” He claimed that no one likes terrorists and wanted to replace them with robbers.
“Nobody likes terrorists. Everybody likes robbers. They’re fun,” he explained. He finally decided to direct the film after Joel Silver constantly approached him. And the movie exceeded all expectations, becoming one of the greatest films of all time.
Die Hard is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.
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