Die Hard: With a Vengeance
Think fast. Look alive. Die hard.
Country
Budget
$90 000 000
Revenue
$361 212 499
Director
Actors
Scenario
Producer
Operator
Composer
Artist
Jackson DeGovia, Peter Rogness
Audition
Editing
Short description
New York City detective John McClane finds himself the target of a bomber calling himself Simon, who threatens to detonate explosives across the city unless McClane follows his instructions. The demands take the form of a series of riddles and tasks that send McClane racing through New York, with a Harlem shop owner named Zeus Carver drawn into the chase as an unwilling partner. The two men must work out what Simon wants and stay ahead of each stage of his game before more lives are lost.
The film is the third entry in the Die Hard series and marked John McTiernan's return to it, coming after Die Hard, The Hunt for Red October and Last Action Hero in his filmography. Bruce Willis leads as McClane, with Jeremy Irons as Simon and Samuel L. Jackson as Zeus Carver. Jonathan Hensleigh wrote the screenplay with Roderick Thorp, and McTiernan produced alongside Michael Tadross.
Released in May 1995, the film cost around 90 million US dollars and took roughly 366 million worldwide, a strong return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 7.6 out of 10 from about 429,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 7.3 from a much smaller base. A film critics' rating of 6.3 from 80 reviews places it below both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The bomb in the park, which required solving a riddle to deactivate, would have detonated if it had high accuracy, as Simon claimed. Because the water in the bottle splashed significantly during weighing, the scales would have shown different weights. Furthermore, it is impossible to pour exactly 4 gallons with unmarked bottles.
- Creating background extras graphically wasn't yet possible in 1995. This method would be used 12 years later in the fourth film of the series.
- Samuel L. Jackson personally created Zeus's appearance after reading numerous books about Malcolm X.
- It was intended that this screenplay would be used to film 'Lethal Weapon 4' (1998).
- The initial script was based on the novel "Troubleshooter," which was about terrorists hijacking a cruise ship in the Caribbean.
- The film was originally titled "Simon Says".
- During the explosion of the store at the very beginning of the film, a truck parked near the building can be seen. The truck belongs to Atlantic Courier. In "Die Hard" (1988), Hans Gruber and the other terrorists arrive at the Nakatomi building in a truck belonging to Pacific Courier.
- When Simon, identifying himself as a civil engineer, meets Ricky Walsh, a faint red emblem can be seen on one of the buildings in the background. This building belongs to the Home Insurance Company, which specifically installed a large red canvas on its building to ensure it would be noticed in the film.
- In 2003, a special collector's edition of the film was released on DVD in the first region, featuring an alternate ending. Simon Gruber manages to escape with the stolen gold: the gold is melted down into small "Empire State Building" figurines and smuggled out of the USA. John McClane is fired from the police and is also suspected of aiding and abetting the robbery. Several months later, John and Simon meet somewhere in Eastern Europe: John manages to track down Simon using the number on an aspirin bottle. Having found Simon, John challenges him to a peculiar version of Russian roulette, only instead of a revolver, there's a Chinese bazooka (John has disassembled the bazooka so it's unclear where the projectile will come from). In addition, each of them must answer riddles they pose to each other. In the end, Simon answers incorrectly, pulls the trigger, and is literally blown to pieces.
- Sam Phillips, a pop singer, was invited to audition after the producers saw her photo on the cover of her compact disc.
- Filming took place from September 16 to November 19, 1994.
- As in the film "Die Hard" (1988), most of the phrases spoken in German are grammatically incorrect, and some of them don't make any sense at all.
- After reviewing the initial version of Jonathan Hensleigh’s script, 20th Century Fox, at the time strongly impressed by the rising action star Brandon Lee and their collaboration “Rapid Fire” (1992), became interested in the project, envisioning Brandon in the lead role. However, after the young actor’s tragic death, the film's development was shelved for a long time, until the script reached John McTiernan.
- David Trewhella could have been cast in the role of Simon Gruber.
- The phrase "Yipee-ki-yay, motherfucker!" is used in all five films of the franchise.
- After the film's release, Jonathan Hensleigh was detained by FBI agents, as they believed he possessed too much information about the “Federal Gold Reserve” in Manhattan. Hensleigh stated that he found all the information in articles published in the “New York Times”.
- Many action sequences were filmed against a green screen and then combined with other footage on a computer.
- At the 29th minute, when the protagonist rushes through the park in a taxi, traces of the car on the grass from previous takes are visible.
- In one scene of the film, McClane says to Zeus, "I've gotten used to my regular routine, smoking cigarettes and watching 'Captain Kangaroo'." This line is a quote from the song "Flowers on the Wall" by "The Statler Brothers." The song was used in the soundtrack of "Pulp Fiction" (1994), which also starred Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson.
- Despite not participating in the filming of this movie, Alan Rickman is nevertheless credited in the end credits as Hans Gruber.
- The erotic scene between Jeremy Irons and Sam Phillips was added to the film at the very last moment. John McTiernan knew the film would receive an “R” rating regardless, so he decided to shoot such a scene.
- Laurence Fishburne was the producers' initial choice for the role of Zeus, but he declined the offer to appear in the film. After Fishburne changed his mind, the role had already gone to Samuel L. Jackson.
- Simon calls a radio DJ to announce that a bomb has been planted in one of the schools. The radio DJ's name is Elvis Duran. He is a real radio DJ who works at station Z100 (100.3 FM).
- In one scene, Simon Gruber introduces himself as Fred Thompson. Fred Thompson is an actor who played the role of the Trudo Airport Chief in “Die Hard 2” (1990).
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Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
