John McTiernan – Crystal Trap: “Die Hard is a Shakespearean comedy”

Spend the evening with Bruce Willis, on M6.

It's not yet Christmas, and yet: M6 is banking on a great classic of action cinema, this evening, one of the unforgettable roles of Bruce Willisby rebroadcasting the film that made him an international star, Die Hard (1988). Here is a slew of anecdotes about the first, initially published in the summer of 2015 in our cycle of 40 years of the blockbuster.

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In 1988, if the American box office champion was called Rain Man and confirms the star status of Tom Cruisethe year was marked throughout by the success of concept comedies: Who wants Roger Rabbit's skin?, A prince in New York, big, Twins, Is there a cop to save the queen? Or A Fish Named Wanda thus obtain the favor of the public. But the most revolutionary film of the year, which imposes a new type of hero within Hollywood entertainment and will constitute the essential matrix of action cinema of the following decade, is none other than crystal trap (Die Hard in VO) of John McTiernan, which is released in the United States in July and will place in 7th position at the annual box office. A work shot in the wake of the success in 1987 of Predator (signed by the same director) on the initiative of the same producers Joel Silver (the man also responsible for Commando and of The lethal Weapon) And Lawrence Gordon which, associated with Fox, provided McTiernan with a larger budget ($28 million compared to 15 million for Predator).

One of the great feats of Die Hardthe story of a nighttime hostage-taking in the Nakatomi Plaza skyscraper, is based on the character of the main character, John McClane, a New York police officer who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time since he had come to Los Angeles resolve his marital problems but is forced to confront a gang of heavily armed German robbers who pose as terrorists.

If Bruce Willisthen mainly known for the comedy series Moonlightshines so much in this anti-hero role is that the actor himself arrived on the project through an incredible combination of circumstances. Die Hard being an adaptation of the novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp (written in 1979 in homage to The Infernal Tower), which stars the character Joe Leland, Frank Sinatra contractually had to interpret this protagonist to whom he had already lent his features in 1968 in The detective. But Sinatra, over 70 years old when the project began to interest Lawrence Gordon, politely declined.

John McTiernan: “John McClane is not a national hero”

Entrusted to Jeb Stuart, then to Steven E. de Souza (screenwriter of 48 hours, Commando And Running Man), the scenario then rejuvenates the character, now seen as a 35-year-old man. handsome and athletic “, and renamed him John McClane. Arnold Schwarzenegger getting ready to turn Double Relaxation And Twinsa host of popular actors are expected: Burt Reynolds, Richard Gere, Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford Or Richard Dean Anderson (star of MacGyver). Very far from being the first choice because he is completely inexperienced in action cinema, Bruce Willis finally inherits the role when a hole appears in the filming of Moonlight.

The encounter between the actor's body – significantly less body-built and sculptural than those of the action stars of the time Arnold Schwarzenegger And Sylvester Stallone – and the ambitious and elaborate staging of John McTiernan will nevertheless produce sparks. John McClane, an almost sadomasochistic figure who suffers from start to finish (impossible to remain indifferent when he walks barefoot on broken glass) and stains his white tank top with blood, at the same time maintains a strange humorous distance from the action, which he constantly comments with enthusiasm (the famous “ Now I have a machine gun, ho-ho-ho » and the cult “ Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker! “). In the same way, McTiernan's camera, which organizes the space and guides the viewer's gaze with extraordinary readability, represents, by the filmmaker's own admission, a narrator in its own right and ” an active voice “.

A perfect illustration of John McTiernan's vision of the world, John McClane embodies, according to the director, ” a pure proletarian who has no respect for the hierarchy or the upper classes. He constantly thumbs his nose at them. He's not a national hero “. Not a national hero, then, but a cinematic hero of a new kind, who carries on his bare shoulders the virulent criticism of institutions to which the filmmaker engages. Everything goes, from the FBI special agent played by Robert Davi who turns out to be an incompetent just good at firing shots from his helicopter, to the unscrupulous media obsessed with a scoop hunt that flouts ethics. Conversely, more humble characters – like Sergeant Powell (Reginald Veljohnson) who comes to the aid of McClane from outside the building even though he does not know him – demonstrate a sense of the general interest and unfailing solidarity.

When Ben Stiller parodied Die Hard and Bruce Willis

A true theoretician of staging, inventor of forms and fan of cinematic experimentation, John McTiernan will go so far as to describe Die Hard like a ” Shakespearean comedy “. But this Christmas tale which turns into a merciless struggle for survival is also distinguished by its raw realism: the frightened look of the big bad Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) when he is thrown from the building was achieved to the great surprise of the actor, who was thrown into the void earlier than expected.

Mastered from start to finish, Die Hard has inspired a number of films which have taken up the principle of the solitary hero locked up against his will in a closed place which is seized by terrorists. All the action movie stars of the 1990s subsequently rubbed shoulders with it, whether Steven Seagal with Trap on the high seas, Keanu Reeves with Speed (directed by Jan de Bontcinematographer of crystal trap), Jean Claude Van Damme with Sudden death or to some extent Sean Connery with The Rock. But none of these films were able to recreate the fantasy of John McClane's character nor the virtuoso production of McTiernan.

Die Hard garnered four Oscar nominations (including that of best editing) and accumulated 83 million dollars in the United States, far ahead of the 53 million Rambo III, released the same year. The film did not have the same success in France where only 655,000 spectators attended John McClane's first adventure (i.e. three times fewer admissions than for Rambo III). But things returned to normal with the third part of the saga, A Day in Hellwhich totaled 3.5 million admissions in France and became the biggest worldwide success of 1995. John McTiernan (who left Renny Harlin to direct the second part, 58 minutes to live, to turn Hunting for Red October) took back his throne there and put an end to the entire series of derivatives of the first Die Hard by breaking the principle of closed doors and transforming New York into a giant playground where the duo Bruce Willis/Samuel L. Jackson evolves in the open air. Hollywood fashion maker for a short decade, John McTiernan unfortunately saw its influence decline with the failure in 1999 of the 13th Warrior.

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The fourth and fifth parts of Die Hard (made by Len Wiseman in 2007 and John Moore in 2013) no longer offered any of the elegance and mischief of the original feature film, which reinforces our nostalgia for the golden era when John McTiernan could treat action cinema as a noble and major art . Having not made a film since Basic in 2003 and having had to face a legal storm which put him in prison in 2013, John McTiernan (whose project Red Squad no longer gives any news) will he one day make a thunderous return to Hollywood?

Damien Leblanc

Trailer for crystal trap :

The Secret History of Die Hard: A Day in Hell