Die Hard (1988)

Die Hard (1988)

Director: John McTiernan

Synopsis

An NYPD officer (Bruce Willis) tries to save his wife (Bonnie Bedelia) and several others taken hostage by German terrorists (led by Alan Rickman) during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.

Male Deaths

• Hart Bochner [Harry Ellis]
• Hans Buhringer [Fritz]
• Grand L. Bush [Agent Johnson]
• Lorenzo Caccialanza [Marco]
• Rick Cicetti [Nakatomi Security Guard #1]
• Robert Davi [Special Agent Johnson]
• Bruno Doyon [Franco]
• Alexander Godunov [Karl Vreski]
• Dennis Hayden [Eddie]
• Al Leong [Uli]
• Fred Lerner [Nakatomi Security Guard #2]
• Joey Plewa [Alexander]
• Alan Rickman [Hans Gruber]
• Gary Roberts [Heinrich]
• James Shigeta [Joesph Yoshinobu Takagi]
• Wilhelm von Homburg [James]
• Andreas Wisniewski [Tony Vreski]

Female Deaths

• None

Gallery

Rick Cicetti

Fred Lerner

James Shigeta

Andreas Wisniewski

Gary Roberts

Lorenzo Caccialanza

Wilhelm von Homburg/Joey Plewa

Hart Bochner

Hans Buhringer

Bruno Doyon

Al Leong

Grand L. Bush/Robert Davi

Dennis Hayden

Alan Rickman

Alexander Godunov

Posters

Trivia

1. The costume department had 17 undershirts in various stages of degradation on hand for Bruce Willis.
2. The fictional Nakatomi Plaza is the headquarters of 20th Century Fox. The company charged itself rent for the use of the then-unfinished building.
3. In an article for the 30th anniversary of "Die Hard," Bonnie Bedelia stated that the first thing she thinks of when someone mentions "Die Hard" is Alan Rickman. The two became friends and had lunch together every day while shooting the movie. She expressed how lovely and gentle Rickman was in real life.
4. The scene where Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman meet up was unrehearsed to create a greater feeling of spontaneity between the two actors.
5. Bruce Willis received a then-unheard of $5 million fee, which was approved by Fox President Rupert Murdoch.
6. In 2007, Bruce Willis donated John McClane's undershirt to the Smithsonian Museum.
7. Hart Bochner's line "Hans... Bubby!" was ad-libbed. Alan Rickman's quizzical reaction was genuine.
8. The scene where McClane falls down a shaft was a mistake by the stuntman, who was supposed to grab the first vent, as it originally was planned. He slipped and continued to fall, but the shot was used anyway; it was edited together with one where McClane grabs the next vent down as he falls.
9. Was selected for preservation in the National film registry by the Library of Congress in 2017 for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
10. In the spring of 1987, producer Joel Silver and director John McTiernan attended a performance of the play "Dangerous Liaisons," in which Alan Rickman played the evil Vicomte de Valmont. Immediately, Silver and McTiernan realized they had found Hans Gruber.