173 Fun Facts About Die Hard

What is John McClane's profession at the beginning of 'Die Hard'?

NYPD Detective John McClane is a continent away from his beat, so when gunmen seize the tower he fights them with no backup, no jurisdiction and no shoes.

In Die Hard, a fellow passenger tells McClane to cure jet lag by going barefoot and doing what?

Making fists with his toes on the carpet is the tip, and McClane is trying it in an office washroom when the gunmen arrive, which is why he fights the whole night barefoot.

How does McClane first try to summon help after the gunmen seize the tower in Die Hard?

Pulling a fire alarm brings engines racing toward the tower, but a gunman posing as the lobby guard reports a false alarm and they turn back; worse, the alarm tells Hans someone is loose.

Who portrays the main antagonist, Hans Gruber, in 'Die Hard'?

Alan Rickman had never made a feature film; the scene where Hans poses as a hostage was added after a writer overheard him trying out an American accent on the crew.

In Die Hard, what does McClane learn when he looks up his wife on the lobby directory?

She uses her maiden name, Gennaro, at Nakatomi; McClane takes it badly, and the couple's reunion upstairs turns straight into an argument about it.

In Die Hard, what $640 million haul is Hans Gruber's gang really after in the Nakatomi vault while posing as terrorists?

Bearer bonds are the prize, and the vault's last lock opens only when the FBI cuts the building's power, exactly as Hans had planned.

In which U.S. city does Die Hard's skyscraper siege take place?

Los Angeles glitters behind the party-floor set, but that view is paint: a 380-foot backdrop with built-in lights that mimic traffic and shift from dusk to night.

In Die Hard, which conqueror does Hans Gruber describe weeping because he had no more worlds left to conquer?

Alexander the Great is his example, offered as one of the benefits of a classical education; in fact Hans is misquoting Plutarch, so the boast undercuts itself.

Who is the limousine driver who drops John McClane at the tower and later aids him?

Argyle waits in the garage with the limo all night, at first oblivious, then stops the gang's getaway by ramming their escape vehicle and knocking out its driver, Theo, with one punch.

Die Hard was adapted from which 1979 novel by Roderick Thorp?

Nothing Lasts Forever, Thorp's 1979 sequel to The Detective, supplied the plot; its hero is an ageing retired cop, rewritten as the much younger John McClane.

Which singer-actor did the studio contractually have to offer the role of John McClane to first?

Frank Sinatra had played the hero of Thorp's earlier novel in 1968's The Detective, so Fox was contractually bound to offer him the sequel; in his seventies, he declined.

Arnold Schwarzenegger turned down Die Hard to make which 1988 comedy instead?

Twins, the 1988 comedy pairing him with Danny DeVito, is what Schwarzenegger made instead; he wanted to branch out from muscle-bound action roles.

Bruce Willis was only free to make Die Hard because production paused on which TV series he starred in?

Moonlighting went on an eleven-week hiatus when co-star Cybill Shepherd became pregnant, and Willis used the gap to shoot Die Hard.

Bruce Willis's controversial fee for Die Hard, huge for a TV actor at the time, was how much?

$5 million was a fee reserved for Hollywood's top stars, not a TV actor; an unsure Fox put the tower, not his face, on its first posters.

Hans Gruber's actor won the part after playing the seducer Valmont in which Broadway production?

Les Liaisons Dangereuses showed the film-makers their Hans in its Valmont; on set, though, he flinched whenever he fired a gun, so McTiernan had to cut away from his face.

Which real Century City skyscraper, still under construction, played the tower in Die Hard?

Fox Plaza, 20th Century Fox's new Century City headquarters, was still being finished during the 1987–88 shoot, so its bare upper floors appear on screen as construction levels.

Die Hard was famously pitched to the studio as 'Rambo in' what?

'Rambo in an office building' was the pitch; director John McTiernan took it on condition that the film would have 'some joy' rather than grim terrorism.

In Jeb Stuart's early Die Hard script, John McClane shared which surname with a great director of Westerns?

Ford, as in John Ford, was dropped in deference to the late director; Stuart then chose McClane as a 'good strong Scottish name'.

McClane's 'Yippee-ki-yay' catchphrase was inspired by which singing cowboy star's sign-off?

Roy Rogers is the cowboy McClane says he was always partial to when Hans mocks him as a would-be John Wayne; the catchphrase that follows borrows the singing star's own 'yippee-ki-yay'.

Which classical piece did composer Michael Kamen initially object to McTiernan using in Die Hard?

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was McTiernan's idea, borrowed from A Clockwork Orange; over Kamen's objection, its 'Ode to Joy' was woven through the score as the villains' theme.

Which hip-hop holiday track plays in the limo as McClane rides to the tower in Die Hard?

Christmas in Hollis by Run-DMC was barely a year old; when McClane asks for some Christmas music, his driver shoots back that this is Christmas music.

Die Hard's last ambush by Karl is scored with a James Horner cue borrowed from which 1986 film?

Aliens: McTiernan preferred the Horner cue he had used as a temp track to the music Michael Kamen wrote for Karl's return, so the borrowed piece stayed in the finished film.

Which stunt did Willis film on his first day on Die Hard?

Leaping off the roof tied to a fire hose came first; the real jump was from a parking-garage ledge, and the blast threw Willis to the very edge of his airbag.

How did the crew capture Hans Gruber's genuinely shocked face as he falls in Die Hard?

Let go of him early: the actor was promised a drop on the count of three and released sooner, and the alarm on his face in that first take is what the film uses.

Reginald VelJohnson's turn as Sergeant Al Powell in Die Hard led to a starring role in which sitcom?

Family Matters came calling after one of its producers saw Die Hard and asked VelJohnson to audition; he spent nine seasons as another kindly cop, Chicago's Carl Winslow.

Die Hard's hostage floor was built around a recreation of which famous Frank Lloyd Wright house?

Fallingwater, Wright's Pennsylvania house over a waterfall, was recreated on the party floor; production designer Jackson De Govia said it stood for Japanese firms buying up American assets in the 1980s.

In Die Hard, which line does hacker Theo crow as his crew ambushes the SWAT team?

The quarterback is toast was an ad-lib by Clarence Gilyard, whose Theo calls the ambush like a sports broadcast; McTiernan let the cast improvise, and the line stayed in.

An early Nakatomi logo for Die Hard was scrapped because it looked too much like what?

A swastika is what the first Nakatomi logo resembled, so it was scrapped; the replacement was styled after a samurai warrior's helmet.

Die Hard is set at Christmas, but in which season did it actually open in American cinemas?

Summer: Fox opened it in just 21 cinemas on July 15, 1988, and word of mouth made it a must-see before it went nationwide a week later.

Die Hard's four Oscar nominations were all for technical craft; which of these was one of them?

Best Visual Effects was one of them: Richard Edlund's team had built a computer-driven focus system just to film Hans's fall. Die Hard won none of its four.

What did Bruce Willis donate from Die Hard to the Smithsonian in 2007?

His bloodstained undershirt joined Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz among the film treasures of the National Museum of American History.

Which body chose Die Hard in 2017 for preservation as 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant'?

The Library of Congress put Die Hard in its National Film Registry beside Titanic and Superman, 29 years after its first reviews had been mixed.

Which 1994 film is widely described as 'Die Hard on a bus'?

Speed was 'Die Hard on a bus'; the shorthand grew so common that Bruce Willis recalls being pitched a film described as 'Die Hard in a skyscraper'.

What did Bruce Willis wear on set to film Die Hard's barefoot scenes safely?

Fake rubber feet protected Willis as McClane ran through broken glass, and the fakes can be spotted in a few shots if you look closely.

Which Shakespeare play inspired John McTiernan to squeeze Die Hard's three-day script into a single evening?

A Midsummer Night's Dream gave McTiernan his model, one night of chaos put right by morning; he also turned the script's terrorists into thieves, reasoning that robbers are fun bad guys.

Which standard, sung by Vaughn Monroe, plays over Die Hard's end credits?

Let It Snow closes the film in Vaughn Monroe's 1945 recording, and the joke is visual: the only flurry on screen is paper fluttering down from the wrecked tower.

In Die Hard, what does McClane hand to Hans when the villain poses as an escaped hostage?

His pistol, but unloaded: Hans drops the act and pulls the trigger on nothing, and only the arrival of his own men saves him.

Die Hard 2 (1990) is set at which airport?

Washington Dulles International Airport is seized by mercenaries on a snowy night at Christmas, leaving the plane that carries McClane's wife circling overhead as its fuel runs down.

Die Hard 2 was adapted from a 1987 novel by Walter Wager with what title?

58 Minutes is how long the novel's hero, a cop named Frank Malone, has before the plane carrying his child runs out of fuel; the film handed the job to McClane and put his wife on board.

Which director, fresh from a Nightmare on Elm Street sequel, took over Die Hard 2 from John McTiernan?

Renny Harlin stepped in while McTiernan made The Hunt for Red October, released the same year; McTiernan came back to direct the third film.

In Die Hard with a Vengeance, Jeremy Irons's riddling villain Simon is revealed to have what link to the first film?

Simon is Hans Gruber's brother: his alias 'Peter Krieg' is unmasked as Simon Peter Gruber, using revenge for the first film as a cover story.

Simon's real target in Die Hard with a Vengeance is the gold vault of which New York institution?

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is the real target: while the police chase a bomb supposedly planted in a school, Simon's men drive its gold away in dump trucks.

How does McClane finally bring down Simon's helicopter in Die Hard with a Vengeance?

By shooting a power line overhead: the cable brings the helicopter down in flames, ending Simon's escape near the Canadian border.

Which actor was first offered the role of Zeus Carver, before Samuel L. Jackson got it?

Laurence Fishburne was offered Zeus Carver, a part written with him in mind, but held out for a higher fee; the producer would not budge, and Samuel L. Jackson got the role.

Live Free or Die Hard (2007) takes its title from the state motto of which US state?

New Hampshire took 'Live Free or Die' from General John Stark, who in 1809 was too ill to attend a reunion of his old Revolutionary War comrades and sent the words as a toast by letter.

Live Free or Die Hard was the first Die Hard film to receive which MPAA rating?

PG-13: the first three Die Hards were R-rated, and Fox trimmed the 2007 film for a wider audience; an unrated cut later appeared on home media.

Which filmmaker plays the basement hacker 'Warlock' in Live Free or Die Hard?

Kevin Smith, the director of Clerks, did more than play Warlock: he rewrote the scenes he appears in, uncredited, while on the set.

A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) sends McClane to Russia, but where was it mostly filmed?

Budapest stood in for Moscow from April 2012; for scenes fired with live ammunition, the crew moved out to a military shooting range in the countryside.

Producers Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver hired John McTiernan to direct Die Hard after working with him on which 1987 action film?

Predator had been a hit for the same producers, yet McTiernan turned Die Hard down more than once as too grim before taking it on his own, lighter terms.

Roderick Thorp dreamed up the novel behind Die Hard after watching which 1974 disaster film?

The Towering Inferno: after watching it, Thorp dreamed of gunmen chasing a man through a skyscraper, and that dream became his 1979 novel.

What is the name of the hero of the novel behind Die Hard, later reworked into John McClane?

Joe Leland is a retired cop in the novel, an older and sadder man; the film's first writer found the book too bleak and rebuilt him as a working detective with a marriage to save.

In the novel behind Die Hard, whom does the hero visit at the tower on Christmas Eve?

His daughter, Stephanie Gennaro, is the hostage in the novel; she falls to her death alongside villain Anton Gruber, a far darker ending than the film's.

Which ballet star played Karl, Hans Gruber's vengeful second-in-command, in Die Hard?

Alexander Godunov, the Bolshoi star who defected in 1979, played Karl; his rampage is driven by McClane killing his brother Tony early in the film.

Who plays Holly, McClane's estranged wife, in Die Hard?

Bonnie Bedelia improvised much of the McClanes' first argument with Bruce Willis in rehearsal, and the writers worked it into the script.

In Die Hard, which sleazy Nakatomi executive tries to negotiate with Gruber and pays for it?

Harry Ellis, the smooth-talking dealmaker played by Hart Bochner, tries to broker a deal with Hans and is shot when McClane won't surrender the detonators.

What alias does Hans Gruber use when he runs into McClane on an unfinished floor?

Bill Clay is the name Hans picks off the Nakatomi directory board when McClane finds him, feigning an American accent as a frightened escaped hostage.

Who plays Richard Thornburg, the unscrupulous TV reporter in Die Hard?

William Atherton had already played the officious Walter Peck in Ghostbusters; his Thornburg puts McClane's children on live television and is punched by Holly for it.

In Die Hard, what surname do the two FBI agents who take over outside the tower share?

Johnson is the name both give, adding 'no relation'; when the elder gloats that their helicopter raid is just like Saigon, the younger points out he was in junior high.

In Die Hard, which Nakatomi executive does Gruber shoot after failing to get the vault code?

Joseph Takagi, played by James Shigeta, says he doesn't know the code and that Hans will just have to kill him; Hans does, then sets Theo to cracking the vault instead.

What does McClane write on the sweatshirt of the dead terrorist he sends down the elevator?

'Now I have a machine gun. Ho-ho-ho' is scrawled on the sweatshirt of the first terrorist McClane kills, sent down in the lift wearing a Santa hat.

In Die Hard, a TV expert wrongly names the bond between hostages and captors after which city?

Helsinki Syndrome is what he calls Stockholm syndrome, and the news anchor makes it worse by asking, 'As in Helsinki, Sweden?'

In Die Hard, what gift from Nakatomi is Holly wearing that Gruber grabs as he falls?

A Rolex watch, the company's reward for her work, is what Hans clings to; McClane unclasps it, and the symbol of the job that divided the couple falls away with him.

Which cinematographer shot Die Hard before turning director himself?

Jan de Bont shot most of Die Hard handheld, keeping the camera close enough to feel like a third person in the scene, and barely used storyboards.

Which condition came with permission to shoot Die Hard in its real tower?

No filming during the day was the rule because parts of the new tower were already occupied, so a story set over one long night was also shot through the night.

As Sergeant Powell drives away from the tower in Die Hard, what does McClane drop onto his patrol car?

A dead gunman lands on the bonnet just as Powell is leaving, satisfied nothing is wrong; seconds later the gang rakes his car with gunfire and he finally calls for backup.

On Die Hard, which direction did Hans Gruber's actor refuse, saying it did not fit his 'civilised' character?

Throwing Holly to the floor was the direction he refused, arguing the cultivated Gruber would never do it and that Holly, a self-possessed executive, would not have allowed it.

Whom did Bruce Willis spend his time with between takes on Die Hard, rather than his castmates?

Demi Moore was planning their wedding and was on set constantly, castmates recall; the couple married in November 1987, a few weeks into the shoot.

McClane's slip in the elevator shaft made Die Hard's final cut after which on-set accident?

A missed handhold: Willis's stunt double failed to catch the first opening and dropped much further than planned before grabbing a lower ledge, and editor Frank Urioste liked the accident enough to cut it into the film.

At what frame rate was Gruber's 1.5-second fall filmed to stretch it into slow motion?

270 frames per second, about eleven times the normal 24, stretched Rickman's drop; even so, the camera could not hold focus throughout, so the shot cuts away.

Which Die Hard effect was the only miniature used in the whole film?

The rooftop explosion was the only miniature, since the crew could hardly blow the top off a real tower; the rocket blasts at street level were staged for real on the building's own steps.

Which actor, later a famous screen villain, plays O'Reilly, one of Colonel Stuart's henchmen, in Die Hard 2?

Robert Patrick plays O'Reilly, who poses as a workman to spring the ambush on a police SWAT team; a year later he was the liquid-metal T-1000 in Terminator 2.

For Die Hard's SWAT assault sequence, what did the effects crew really do to one floor of the brand-new tower?

Blew out all its windows: the cinematographer recalled timing the real blast to the rocket hit on the police vehicle, calling it 'a very scary undertaking' on a brand-new building.

Which US president later kept his post-presidency office in the real tower where Die Hard was filmed?

Ronald Reagan took a 34th-floor suite there after leaving office; when his chief of staff first toured it, the floor was still littered with bullet shells and broken glass from the shoot.

Which 1988 release finished as that year's top US box-office hit, far ahead of Die Hard?

Rain Man opened in December 1988 and went on to take about $173 million, more than double Die Hard's $83 million, which ranked seventh and never topped a single weekend.

Die Hard placed 39th on which American Film Institute countdown in 2001?

100 Years...100 Thrills put Die Hard two places above Dirty Harry; back in 1988, Roger Ebert's review had complained that its dim deputy police chief undermined the whole second half.

In the 2002 video game Die Hard: Vendetta, the villain Piet is which relative of Hans Gruber?

His son: Piet Gruber leads the villains of the 2002 shooter, a story sequel to the first film in which McClane's daughter Lucy has followed him into the police.

Die Hard Arcade was known by what name in Japan, where Sega lacked the license?

Dynamite Deka means 'Dynamite Detective'; in Japan its hero is Bruno Delinger rather than John McClane, and the 1998 sequel reached the West without the film licence as Dynamite Cop.

Whom do the heroes rescue from terrorists in Die Hard Arcade?

The President's daughter is the hostage; the two heroes fight up the skyscraper to final boss Wolf 'White Fang' Hongo to free her.

What subtitle did the follow-up game Die Hard Trilogy 2 carry?

Viva Las Vegas: the 2000 sequel sends McClane to Nevada for an original story unconnected to the films, again mixing shooting, driving and on-foot stages.

Which company's 2020 car-battery commercial brought Willis back as McClane?

Advance Auto Parts, which bought the DieHard battery brand in 2019, reunited Willis with two of his 1988 co-stars, Clarence Gilyard and De'voreaux White, for the two-minute spot.

Detective Jake Peralta of which sitcom treats the Die Hard films as sacred texts?

Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Jake Peralta quotes the films constantly; in the episode '99' he insists on touring the tower from the film, where the squad gets locked in and misses its flight home.

Call of Duty: Warzone's 2021 '80s Action Heroes' event paired McClane with which other hero?

John Rambo: the May 2021 event sold Rambo and McClane operator bundles and dropped the Die Hard skyscraper into the Verdansk '84 map.

The Die Hard skyscraper turns up in the Void of which 2024 superhero film?

Deadpool & Wolverine: director Shawn Levy named the tower among the Fox relics scattered across the Void, the wasteland where the Time Variance Authority dumps what it prunes.

In Die Hard with a Vengeance, Inspector Cobb calls McClane 'two steps away' from what?

Being a full-blown alcoholic is Inspector Cobb's verdict on his detective; McClane jokingly corrects him: only one step.

Who plays the villainous Colonel Stuart in Die Hard 2?

William Sadler plays Colonel Stuart, a disgraced ex-Army officer who seizes the airport to free the drug-running General Esperanza; Franco Nero plays Esperanza himself.

What is the job of Marvin, the man who helps McClane behind the scenes at the airport in Die Hard 2?

Airport janitor: Marvin, played by Tom Bower, is the ally McClane enlists once the siege begins, and it is his cart that carries the reunited McClanes away at the end.

How does Colonel Stuart crash the British airliner in Die Hard 2?

By faking its altimeter reading: posing as the control tower, Stuart recalibrates sea level so the crew believes it is still safely airborne when the jet slams into the runway.

Die Hard 2's snowy runway scenes were shot at a former air base in which Great Lakes state?

Michigan: the former Kincheloe Air Force Base in the Upper Peninsula was used because the shoot needed snow and a runway where a 747 could land.

Which future politician plays air traffic chief Trudeau in Die Hard 2?

Fred Thompson plays flight director Ed Trudeau, who has to keep the circling planes in the air; four years later Tennessee voters sent him to the US Senate.

Which 1996 film broke Die Hard 2's record for the biggest pre-opening gross?

Independence Day took $11.1 million in previews, tripling the $3.7 million mark set by Die Hard 2, a sequel that went on to earn far more than the original film.

The script that became Die Hard with a Vengeance was first developed as a vehicle for which star?

Brandon Lee was the intended star until his death on the set of The Crow in 1993; Warner Bros. then briefly rewrote the script as a Lethal Weapon sequel.

Die Hard with a Vengeance opened at #1 ahead of which submarine thriller?

Crimson Tide, in its second weekend, slipped to second place; Fox had refused to delay its bomb-laden sequel even though the Oklahoma City bombing was only a month old.

How much gold do Simon's men haul out of the vault in dump trucks?

$140 billion in gold bullion, by Simon's own count, goes out in dump trucks; the gang escapes through the still-unfinished Water Tunnel No. 3.

In Die Hard with a Vengeance's filmed alternate ending, McClane tracks Simon to a bar in which country?

Hungary: in the discarded ending, a fired McClane tracks Simon to a bar there and makes him play 'McClane Says' with a rocket launcher missing its sights.

What trade does Zeus Carver, Samuel L. Jackson's character, ply in Harlem?

Electrician: Zeus runs a small electrical shop in Harlem and is dragged into Simon's game after he pulls McClane, in a racist sandwich board, out of danger.

Live Free or Die Hard was based on a 1997 Wired article with what title?

A Farewell to Arms, John Carlin's 1997 report, opens on a Pentagon war game called The Day After in which officials face a wave of crippling computer attacks; Fox bought the film rights months later.

Who plays cyber-terrorist Thomas Gabriel in Live Free or Die Hard?

Timothy Olyphant plays Thomas Gabriel, a former Defense Department programmer who turns cyber-terrorist after his warnings about the network's weaknesses got him fired.

Who plays hacker Matt Farrell, McClane's reluctant sidekick in Live Free or Die Hard?

Justin Long, then best known as the 'Mac' in Apple's 'Get a Mac' ads, plays hacker Matt Farrell, the sidekick McClane is sent to collect.

Who plays Lucy McClane in Live Free or Die Hard?

Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Lucy, McClane's estranged daughter, who is taken hostage by Gabriel; she returned for a cameo in A Good Day to Die Hard.

What is the three-stage cyber-attack in Live Free or Die Hard called?

A fire sale, because 'everything must go': stage one hits transport, stage two finance and telecoms, stage three the utilities.

What was the title of David Marconi's original cyber-terror script that became Live Free or Die Hard?

WW3.com was Marconi's title for the script, developed in the late 1990s; it stalled after 9/11 before being revived and rewritten by Mark Bomback.

Before Live Free or Die Hard got its title, IGN reported the cyber-terror sequel would be called what?

Die Hard: Reset was the title IGN reported in 2006; Willis and director Len Wiseman both said they preferred Die Hard 4.0, which became the international title.

Who scored the fourth and fifth Die Hard films after Kamen's death?

Marco Beltrami scored both Live Free or Die Hard and A Good Day to Die Hard, weaving Michael Kamen's themes into his music; Kamen had died in 2003.

Which jet, able to hover in mid-air, chases McClane's truck on the freeway in Live Free or Die Hard?

The F-35B Lightning II, the hovering short-takeoff version, shreds the freeway with cannon fire; director Len Wiseman cameos as its pilot.

In Live Free or Die Hard, the Woodlawn data facility Gabriel raids was secretly built by which agency?

The NSA built Woodlawn as a secret failsafe backup of the nation's financial records, and Gabriel, who designed it, raids it to download everything.

Live Free or Die Hard opened at #2 behind which animated film?

Ratatouille, Pixar's rat-chef comedy, won the weekend with about $47 million to the sequel's $33 million; Live Free or Die Hard still ended up the series' biggest earner worldwide.

Live Free or Die Hard's DVD was the first ever to include what?

A digital copy of the film: Fox's November 2007 DVD was the first to bundle a transferable file, letting viewers move the movie to a PC or portable player.

Which future John Wick director worked as a stunt performer on Live Free or Die Hard?

Chad Stahelski, once Keanu Reeves's stunt double on The Matrix, was one of more than 200 stunt people on the film, seven years before he turned director with John Wick.

Who directed A Good Day to Die Hard?

John Moore, director of Max Payne and the Omen remake, took over; Noam Murro had been attached but left to make 300: Rise of an Empire.

Which Australian actor plays McClane's son Jack in A Good Day to Die Hard?

Jai Courtney, who had just played a villain opposite Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher, was cast as Jack; Liam Hemsworth was among those also considered.

An early title for A Good Day to Die Hard sparked talk of a crossover with which action TV series?

24: the working title Die Hard 24/7 set off talk of Jack Bauer teaming up with John McClane, but the title changed and Bauer never appeared.

Who plays Yuri Komarov, the whistleblower turned villain of A Good Day to Die Hard?

Sebastian Koch, the German star of the Oscar-winning The Lives of Others, plays Komarov, who only pretends to need rescuing so that he can reach a hidden vault.

A Good Day to Die Hard's climax takes place in which city?

Pripyat, the ghost city evacuated after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, hosts the climax; the McClanes drive there by night from Moscow in a stolen car full of guns.

In A Good Day to Die Hard, what does Komarov's secret vault hold instead of the promised incriminating file?

Weapons-grade uranium: there never was a file, and Komarov and his accomplice staged the whole rescue so they could reach the stockpile and sell it.

Which name belongs to Komarov's treacherous daughter in A Good Day to Die Hard?

Irina, played by Yuliya Snigir, appears to sell her father out to Chagarin's men, but the betrayal is an act: the two are partners, and she dies crashing her helicopter in the finale.

Which line does McClane repeat so often in A Good Day to Die Hard that a critic suggested a drinking game?

'I'm on vacation!' is McClane's running complaint in Moscow; Peter Howell of the Toronto Star suggested a drinking game for each repetition.

In Die Hard 2, the Army special forces unit sent to stop Colonel Stuart turns out to be what?

Secretly on his side: Major Grant's men stage a firefight with Stuart's mercenaries, and McClane sees through it when the gun he grabbed turns out to be filled with blanks.

The Die Hard mural painted on the studio lot in 2013 shows McClane doing what?

Crawling through a vent: the giant mural went up on a soundstage wall to mark the film's 25th anniversary, and Willis was there to unveil it in January 2013.

Roughly how much have the five Die Hard films grossed combined worldwide?

$1.4 billion: about $141 million, $240 million, $366 million, $384 million and $305 million across the five films, with Willis the only actor in all of them.

Willis retired from acting in 2022 after being diagnosed with what?

Aphasia, a language disorder, was the diagnosis announced with Bruce Willis's retirement in March 2022; a frontotemporal dementia diagnosis followed in February 2023.

In Die Hard with a Vengeance, where do McClane and Zeus fill two jugs to solve Simon's four-gallon bomb riddle?

A fountain: the riddle leaves them a three-gallon and a five-gallon jug beside it, and only exactly four gallons set on the bomb's scale will stop its timer.

Which group does Hans demand be freed, admitting he only read about them in Time magazine?

Asian Dawn is on Hans's list of jailed groups to be freed, but the politics are a pose: asked whether anyone will even try to comply, he replies 'Who cares?' and asks Theo if they are on schedule.

Which 1983 biopic persuaded Willis to suggest its star for the role of Holly?

Heart Like a Wheel cast the future Holly as drag-racing champion Shirley Muldowney and won her a Golden Globe nomination, though Muldowney herself had wanted Jamie Lee Curtis for the part.

Why does Sergeant Al Powell say he swapped street patrol for a desk job?

He shot a child by mistake: Powell confesses it over the radio and says he has not drawn his gun since, which sets up the moment he shoots Karl in the finale.

What did Hart Bochner decide was driving his Die Hard character, against the director's Cary Grant idea?

Cocaine use and insecurity were Bochner's keys to the part; McTiernan hated the performance until he saw the producers laughing at the playback.

What does McClane strap the C-4 to before dropping it down the elevator shaft?

An office chair: McClane straps C-4 and detonators to a computer monitor on the chair and drops it down the shaft, wiping out the rocket team firing on the SWAT vehicle.

Which getaway vehicle, written into Die Hard's ending late in the shoot, does the limo driver ram in the garage?

An ambulance: the idea came so late that the truck already filmed arriving was too small to hold one, and a scene of the gang synchronising watches had to go because it showed the truck empty.

Which Bruce Willis western flopped earlier in 1988, raising doubts about his leading-man potential?

Sunset, Blake Edwards's comedy-western with James Garner, flopped in spring 1988; as doubts about its star grew, Fox reworked Die Hard's posters around the building, with Willis's name in tiny print.

Which new release topped the US box office in Die Hard's third weekend, pushing it down to fourth?

Cocktail took first place with $11.8 million as Die Hard slipped to fourth; it never did lead the chart, though seven weeks later it climbed to second, its peak.

Who co-wrote Die Hard's screenplay with Jeb Stuart?

Steven E. de Souza, the writer of Commando, rewrote Jeb Stuart's draft by treating Hans Gruber as the protagonist whose plan drives the whole story.

Which publisher issued the prequel comic Die Hard: Year One, following rookie cop McClane in 1976?

BOOM! Studios published Die Hard: Year One, in which the rookie patrolman has to stop a terrorist and crooked cops who hijack a yacht during New York's Bicentennial celebrations.

In which 1993 spoof did Bruce Willis make a comic cameo as John McClane?

Loaded Weapon 1, the Lethal Weapon spoof, has the villains' helicopter destroy the wrong home by mistake: it belongs to John McClane, played by an uncredited Willis.

Die Hard: The Nakatomi Heist, released in 2019, is what kind of product?

A board game: USAopoly's 2019 release casts up to four players as McClane, Gruber and his crew, each side racing to complete its opposing tasks.

Which 1992 Steven Seagal thriller aboard a US Navy ship became known as Die Hard on a battleship?

Under Siege put a ship's cook, secretly a former Navy SEAL, in the lone-hero role, one of many 1990s thrillers pitched as Die Hard somewhere new.

A sixth Die Hard film, titled McClane, was scrapped after which company took over 20th Century Fox?

Disney inherited a script blending a 1970s McClane with his present-day self, then cancelled it outright in August 2019.

How does John McClane destroy the villains' escaping jumbo jet at the end of Die Hard 2?

He ignites its leaking fuel with a cigarette lighter, and the trail of fire then guides the circling airliners down to land safely.

In Die Hard with a Vengeance, how many gallons must the heroes measure using 3- and 5-gallon jugs?

Four gallons of water from a public fountain is the target that keeps a bomb from exploding; mathematicians file such riddles under decanting problems.

What is John McClane forced to wear through Harlem at the start of Die Hard with a Vengeance?

A sandwich board bearing a racial slur is Simon's first demand, and shop owner Zeus Carver steps in to save McClane from the men who confront him.

Samuel L. Jackson won his Die Hard with a Vengeance role after a producer saw which film at Cannes?

Pulp Fiction also starred Bruce Willis, which is why the producer was at the festival; he was so impressed that he offered Jackson the part of Zeus.

Which accent does Hans Gruber put on when he pretends to be an escaped hostage in Die Hard?

American is the accent he adopts as a frightened hostage, a scene added once the crew discovered how convincing the actor sounded.

What did Hans Gruber's actor suggest the Die Hard villain wear in place of typical terrorist gear?

A suit was the actor's own pitch to producer Joel Silver; he had been reluctant to take the part, and Gruber was first conceived as a mercenary.

Where is John McClane hiding his pistol when he seems to surrender to Hans Gruber in Die Hard?

Taped to his back with only two bullets left, the pistol lets McClane wound Gruber and kill the gunman standing beside him.

In Live Free or Die Hard, what does John McClane launch at a helicopter full of henchmen?

A speeding car really was propelled into a stationary helicopter hung on wires; only the debris and spinning rotor blades were computer-generated.

In an improvised moment during Die Hard's SWAT assault, what does the henchman Uli stop to steal?

A chocolate bar was actor Al Leong's own touch; the director gave his cast room to invent small moments like it on set.

Which Chicago critic gave Die Hard a mixed review, faulting its obstructive deputy police chief?

Roger Ebert called the deputy chief a wilfully useless obstruction who wasted screen time, though he singled out the villain's performance for praise.

Which actress who started out in Hong Kong action films plays Mai Linh in Live Free or Die Hard?

Maggie Q plays the villain's second-in-command, an expert in both computers and martial arts who poses as a dispatcher to steer McClane into a helicopter ambush.

General Esperanza of Die Hard 2 once ruled which fictional country, first seen in Commando?

Val Verde, meaning green valley, is a stand-in one of the film's screenwriters reuses whenever a real country might cause legal or diplomatic problems.

Which actor, later an Emmy winner as Andy Sipowicz, plays the airport police captain in Die Hard 2?

Dennis Franz plays Captain Carmine Lorenzo, who brushes off McClane's warnings; by the actor's own count, Sipowicz was his 28th role as a police officer.

Which director of the Underworld films took over the series for Live Free or Die Hard?

Len Wiseman pushed for practical stunts over computer effects so that the film would feel real beside that summer's CGI blockbusters.

Die Hard's composer made the studio license Winter Wonderland and which song from a 1952 musical?

Singin' in the Rain is threaded through the score for the villains' scenes; Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange had used the same song.

Which New York department store is bombed in the opening scene of Die Hard with a Vengeance?

Bonwit Teller was a real luxury chain founded in 1895 that helped launch the career of designer Calvin Klein.

In Die Hard with a Vengeance, Simon's dump trucks escape through which unfinished public works?

A water tunnel, the real New York City Water Tunnel No. 3 under construction since 1970, hides the convoy until Simon floods it by blowing a cofferdam.

Which item from a Quebec truck stop leads John McClane to Simon in Die Hard with a Vengeance?

A bottle of aspirin handed over by Simon himself aboard the ship gives the hideout away, sending police to a warehouse near the Canadian border.

How does John McClane bring down Simon's helicopter at the end of Die Hard with a Vengeance?

He shoots a power line overhead, and the helicopter crashes and explodes, killing Simon and his partner Katya.

Warner Bros. once rewrote the script for Die Hard with a Vengeance as a sequel in which franchise?

Lethal Weapon nearly inherited the riddling-bomber story, whose sidekick role had first been written with an actress in mind.

Which April 1995 attack raised concerns about releasing the bomb-themed Die Hard with a Vengeance?

The Oklahoma City bombing came a month before the premiere, yet the studio kept its date and the film became the highest-grossing release of 1995 worldwide.

Simon's subway bomb in Die Hard with a Vengeance is on a train heading for which Manhattan station?

Wall Street station is where McClane hurls the bomb from the 3 train onto the tracks just as it goes off.

How did Die Hard's director persuade Hans Gruber's actor to perform the villain's backward fall?

He did the stunt first, landing on a pile of cardboard boxes, because falling backward is something even stuntmen avoid.

Hans Gruber of Die Hard is based on a villain in Roderick Thorp's novel with which first name?

Anton Gruber targets the tower over its owner's support for a dictatorship, a political motive the film swapped for plain theft.

The 2002 video game Die Hard: Vendetta pits John McClane against Piet, who is Hans Gruber's what?

Son Piet Gruber is the villain of the game, a narrative sequel to the first film in which Reginald VelJohnson returns as McClane's LAPD ally.

How does Hans Gruber work out that one of his hostages is John McClane's wife in Die Hard?

A TV news report showing the McClane children tips him off, and the reporter who filed it ends the film being punched by McClane's wife.

A critic compared Die Hard's Hans Gruber to Laurence Olivier playing which Shakespeare king?

Richard III was reviewer Hal Hinson's comparison: a sneering, malevolent schemer, in a performance even critics cool on the film singled out.

For Hans Gruber's plunge in Die Hard, what did the actor land on after leaving a raised platform?

An airbag covered in blue screen caught him, so the ground far below and a shower of falling paper could be added to the shot afterwards.

What did Hans Gruber's actor, making his film debut in Die Hard, feel nervous about doing on camera?

Firing a gun made him nervous, an odd fit for a character the AFI later ranked 46th on its list of screen heroes and villains.

What struck Bruce Willis above the eye during a fight scene in Live Free or Die Hard?

A stiletto heel worn by an actress's stunt double caught him mid-kick; he needed seven stitches, and the director said he could see bone.

In Die Hard, the pane John McClane shoots out to swing back into the tower was made of what?

Sugar glass is fragile and was slow to set up, so only a few takes were possible, and the stunt waited until the crew had more experience.

A fatal on-set accident during which 1983 film changed attitudes to stunts shortly before Die Hard?

Twilight Zone: The Movie prompted a push to put a film's crew before the film itself, yet Bruce Willis insisted on doing many of his own stunts.

Which mishap involving Bruce Willis's stuntman was kept in the finished cut of Die Hard?

Falling further than planned happened in the ventilation shaft scene, and the editor kept the shot of McClane just catching a lower opening.

Die Hard's crew spent months negotiating permission to do what with a SWAT vehicle?

Permission to drive it up the steps of the real tower took months, and a railing knocked over during the shoot was never replaced.

Die Hard's final helicopter scene took six months to prepare, but how long was allowed to film it?

Two hours was all the crew got, and it took three passes over the tower to capture the scene.

Which stuntman hung off the tower for Bruce Willis and made Hans Gruber's long descent in Die Hard?

Ken Bates was lowered 318 feet down the real building in a harness that slowed him as he neared the ground.

In Die Hard with a Vengeance's alternate ending, Simon has the gold recast as statuettes of what?

The Empire State Building statuettes were his way to smuggle the loot abroad; the screenwriter says the studio found this McClane too cruel and vengeful.

Which actor, The Breakfast Club's Vice Principal Vernon, plays the LAPD deputy chief in Die Hard?

Paul Gleason plays Dwayne T. Robinson, and in 1997 a Walker, Texas Ranger episode reunited him with Clarence Gilyard, the gang's tech specialist Theo.