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FILM 1209: DIE HARD

TRIVIA: The scene in which Gruber and McClane meet was inserted into the script after Alan Rickman (Hans Gruber) was found to be proficient at mimicking American accents. The filmmakers had been looking for a way to have the two characters meet prior to the climax and capitalized on Rickman's talent.

Special, extra loud blanks were made for use in the film to add to the "hyper-realism" director John McTiernan was looking for. Unfortunately for Bruce Willis, some of these blanks were used for the scene where he kills a terrorist by shooting him through the bottom of a table where the terrorist is standing. The proximity of the gun to Willis' ear during this scene caused permanent hearing loss for Willis.

Alan Rickman's feature film debut.

John McTiernan was originally going to make Commando 2, but Arnold Schwarzenegger turned the role offer down. Commando 2 was transformed into this film; Schwarzenegger was the first actor offered the title role, but he again declined. Eventually Bruce Willis would get the part after it had been offered to Sylvester Stallone, Burt Reynolds, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson and Richard Gere.

Director John McTiernan found it necessary to smash cut away from Hans Gruber's face whenever he fired a gun, because of Alan Rickman's uncontrollable habit of flinching from the noise and muzzle flash. If you look at Rickman's face when he shoots Takagi, you can see him wincing.

Ironically, Bruce Willis, sneered at for being an all-American hero by the head German terrorist, is actually more German than most of the villains; Alan Rickman is English and Alexander Godunov was Russian. Bruce Willis was born on March 19th 1955 in West Germany to an American father and a German mother.

Bruce Willis and Demi Moore tied the knot at the Golden Nugget hotel in Las Vegas during this shoot, Moore having recently broken her engagement to actor Emilio Estevez. Little Richard presided over the ceremony and former brat packer Ally Sheedy was a bridesmaid.