30 years ago today, a cobbled-together action film called Die Hard was released into select US theaters. Costing $28 million, it ended up grossing over $140 million that summer, and turned Bruce Willis—a comedic TV actor—into a blockbuster superstar.
Its success sparked a franchise of four sequels, video games, and a comic book—it also spawned a string of movies that involve a random citizen turns into a hero against overwhelming odds.
Considered a Christmas picture, Die Hard portrays off-duty NYC cop John McClane (Willis) trying to rescue his wife in a skyscraper where her office holiday party is being terrorized by gunmen. The lead villain, Hans Gruber, was played by Alan Rickman in his very first film role ever.
You might know all this already, but chances are you don’t know these interesting trivia tidbits… SPOILER Alert: Some of these facts will give away certain details of the film.
1) The script is based on Roderick Thorp’s 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever, the sequel to The Detective, which was adapted for a film starring Frank Sinatra. The studio, 20th Century Fox, was contractually obligated to offer Sinatra the lead role in Die Hard, but he turned it down.
2) Arnold Schwarzenegger declined to shoot the film as a sequel to Commando, so the script was offered to a variety of action stars, including Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford, Don Johnson, Clint Eastwood, Richard Gere, and Burt Reynolds—all of whom turned it down.
3) Fox reluctantly gave the role to Willis, who was known as a comedic television actor. Plus, they paid him $5 million, a figure virtually unheard of at the time for an actor who had starred in only one moderately successful film. (Some speculate it…
