Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)
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Bruce Willis suggested Samuel L. Jackson for the movie. Jackson was thrilled. He says he's "seen the first Die Hard (1988) maybe thirty times."
Samuel L. Jackson said that Zeus "is the closest character to my personality of any that I've played."
As in Die Hard (1988), the German spoken in this movie is mostly grammatically incorrect. A few lines are so wrong, that they have to be considered gibberish (most notably the exchange of the fake cops, who are given the briefcase bomb by Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson)). In the German release, however, all of the lines that were German in the original movie are grammatically correct, fitting the context, and some of the terrorists even have an East German accent.
The sandwich board that Bruce Willis wore while filming in Harlem was originally blank, rather than text, to ensure no one was offended by the racist message. The "I Hate N*****s" was added with CGI in post-production. Some television broadcasts use an alternate version where the sign reads "I hate everybody", which is sometimes erroneously said to be the original version of the sign used for filming, but this too was added with CGI in post-production.
Director John McTiernan acknowledged the errors concerning the gold in the dump trucks and its respective weight. McTiernan and Samuel L. Jackson were permitted to lift a genuine bar of gold to get a feel of how heavy gold really was.
Originally titled "Simon Says" (where Zeus was scripted as a woman) and was considered by Joel Silver as the third sequel to Lethal Weapon (1987). Twentieth Century Fox, however, did not agree to sell the script to Joel Silver.
Samuel L. Jackson's look in the film was Jackson's idea after he'd done extensive research on his character by studying books on Malcolm X.
The chase scenes in the tunnel were filmed in New York City Water Tunnel Number 3, an unfinished aqueduct connecting the city to the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York.
During a press conference to promote the film's release, Bruce Willis pre-emptively told reporters that he would not discuss the April 1995 Oklahoma City bombing in any way because he did not want to trivialize that real-world tragedy by comparing it in any way to a fictional movie.
In the DVD commentary, Jonathan Hensleigh says that the first hour of the film is his original "Simon Says" script word for word. He only changed the characters from the script, so that it would actually feel like a part of the "Die Hard" franchise.
On April 19, 1995, exactly one month before the movie was scheduled to be released, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed by terrorists. Several sources later reported that last-minute editing was done to remove a few scenes depicting explosions, out of pity with the victims. This claim turned out to be false: there may have been confusion with the television shows All My Children (1970) and Melrose Place (1992), which indeed had such scenes edited out at the last minute. Director John McTiernan did at one point consider either editing out the opening bombing of the department store, or moving the release date back, as he felt that the American public might still be sensitive to bombing due to recent events. However, Fox studios decided to go with the original version and release date, stating that the film was a work of fiction, and was already completed long before the real-life events occurred. (source: articles.sun-sentinel.com/1995-05-04/lifestyle/9505030369_1_bombing-oklahoma-city-film)
The park, on top of the Wall Street station in the film, was a vacant lot that was made into a park for the film. It was turned back into a vacant lot after filming was completed.
The producers planned to blow up the Hutchinson River Parkway tollbooth structure for a scene in the movie. The tolls were to be eliminated anyway, and then-Governor Mario Cuomo volunteered to push the switch. But opposition from local residents, in close proximity, and from other officials, nixed the idea.
Laurence Fishburne was the original choice to play Zeus Carver, but turned down the part. When he reconsidered the decision, Samuel L. Jackson was already cast.
On the DVD commentary, screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh says the idea for the film's plot came to him when he imagined what would happen if one of his childhood friends, who was injured after Hensleigh threw a rock at him, decided to seek revenge on him as an adult.
The sex scene between Jeremy Irons and Sam Phillips was added in at the last minute because John McTiernan knew that the film would get an R rating and he might as well put a sex scene in.
According to John McTiernan, "It's very dangerous to have an actor drive a car. Accidents happen every year." A stuntman drove the cab from a rig built on the back while Bruce Willis pretended to drive in the front.
John McTiernan called the plot "frail and outrageous. I hope people enjoy its ridiculousness."
Jeremy Irons claimed that someone described his hairstyle in the film as "mid-life crisis".
John McTiernan declined to direct Batman Forever (1995) in order to make this film.
Even though the film's domestic box-office was only about $100 million, its massive international box-office (about $266 million) made it the highest grossing film of 1995 worldwide. It is one of the few movies that could manage to become the highest grossing film of the year when its domestic box-office was not even in the top five (it finished tenth). Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) also achieved this same feat.
Although he wasn't hired for the film, Alan Rickman is still credited as playing Hans Gruber (in McClane's flashback, using stock footage from Die Hard (1988)).
Samuel L. Jackson had sandbags tied to his feet so he would sink in the underwater shots.
Jonathan Hensleigh lived right above where one scene was shot on the Upper West Side. He set it there on purpose, so he could just watch the filming from his kitchen window.
Even though this is the third Die Hard film, it is the first that takes place in the same city in which John McClane is a police officer (New York City). In the first movie, he was in Los Angeles, California, and in the second, he was in Dulles, VA.
The first "Die Hard" movie to be based on an original screenplay. Die Hard (1988) was based on a novel by Roderick Thorp, Die Hard 2 (1990) was based on a novel by Walter Wager, Live Free or Die Hard (2007) was based on an article by John Carlin, and A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) was the second movie in the franchise to have an original screenplay.
The first Die Hard film to feature a female villain. Both the subsequent sequels also have female villains.
The 2003 R1 DVD version includes the original ending showing McClane and Simon playing a game of "chicken" with a rocket launcher. In this original version, Simon Gruber and his crew get away with the gold and months later, McClane tracks Simon down in Europe (where in Europe is debated: McClane mentions Germany, but people in the background are heard speaking Hungarian) The number on the bottom of the aspirin bottle (at the phone booth) leads McClane to Gruber. The gold was turned into small miniatures of the Empire State building and smuggled out of the country. McClane is thrown off the force, with the police thinking that he may actually be involved in the heist. The "game" that McClane and Simon play is about riddles that McClane tells Simon, and he is supposed to figure out the answer, or McClane will force him to fire a rocket launcher with its directional arrows removed, so neither will know which direction it will fire in until it is actually fired. The scene climaxes with McClane forcing Simon at gunpoint to fire the rocket launcher, which kills Simon, and McClane is revealed to be wearing a flak-jacket, which would have saved his life if the rocket launcher had fired at him instead of Simon. The studio objected to the ending, saying that it made McClane too cruel and heartless, whereas Screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh stated that that was exactly the point: to show that McClane had been pushed over the edge by the events of that day, and then subsequently losing everything as a result of Simon.
Jeremy Irons, the main villain, does not physically appear until fifty minutes into the movie.
When the bomb goes off in the Bonwit Teller department store, there is an "Atlantic Courier" truck parked in front of the store that gets flipped over. In Die Hard (1988), Hans Gruber and the other terrorists arrive at Nakatomi Plaza in a "Pacific Courier" truck.
Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson appeared in Loaded Weapon 1 (1993), Pulp Fiction (1994), Unbreakable (2000), and Glass (2019).
The stuntmen aren't acting when they're running for their lives from the subway car, it was travelling at forty-five miles per hour.
The film depicts Zeus' nephews. The brothers were brothers in real life - Aldis Hodge and Edwin Hodge They made their acting debuts in this movie. Aldis could later be seen in A Good Day to Die Hard (2013), playing a character named "Foxy".
When McClane says "Cheer up. Things could be worse. I was working on a nice fat suspension, smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo." In Pulp Fiction (1994), which featured Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, the song "Flowers On the Wall", from where this quote comes, is playing on the radio in Willis' character's car, just before he runs it into Marsellus Wallace outside of his apartment.
Sam Phillips (Katya) was relieved her character was mute throughout the movie. "But as time went on, I started wanting to speak."
John McTiernan liked the 1961 Mack truck so much that he bought the truck after the movie finished.
McClane's watch is on the inside of his wrist. That's how Bruce Willis actually wears his watch.
Sam Phillips, a pop singer in real life, was invited to screentest for the role of Katya based upon a photo from one of her CD covers.
John McClane doesn't kill a bad guy until over an hour into this movie. That is longer than any other Die Hard movie.
John McTiernan says a bus came six inches from crashing into Samuel L. Jackson's head. About half of that traffic was real, and the other half was added in post-production.
Bonnie Bedelia declined to return as Holly McClane for this third installment.
This is the only Die Hard film in which John McClane didn't risk his life to save Holly or either of his kids.
Sergeant Yates, a police detective and minor character on South Park (1997), was based on Larry Bryggman's performance as Inspector Walter Cobb, as well as his likeness.
The only Die Hard film where John McClane fights bad guys in his own jurisdiction as a police officer.
According to director John McTiernan, "hundreds of girls were hanging out windows to watch Willis" shooting on Wall Street.
Simon calls a radio announcer to report that there is a bomb in a school. The name of the announcer is Elvis Duran, an actual radio announcer on the station Z100 (100.3 FM).
In the scene where Zeus is trying to get out of going with McClane on the trip across the city, he (Zeus) gets up, exclaiming, "I'm not jumping through hoops for some psycho! That's a white man, with white problems, you deal with him! Call me when he crosses 110th street." 110th St. is the border between Central Park and Harlem.
The main theme for this movie is "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye", an Irish song from 250 years ago. This was later adapted into "When Johnny comes Marching Home", an Irish song made famous in America by Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, a.k.a. Louis Lambert, in 1863.
This is the second film in which Samuel L. Jackson's character steals a kid's bike for "police business". The first film was Loaded Weapon 1 (1993). Bruce Willis had a cameo in that film as John McClane.
Early in his acting career, Jeremy Irons was a co-presenter of the fondly-remembered British pre-school childrens series "Play School" and the spin-off "Play Away" on the BBC. Part of the role, akin to a nursery school/pre-school/montessori school teacher setting, was reading stories, acting out little dramas, singing songs, interacting with the series toys, and reciting Nursery Rhymes and popular childrens sayings, for children to copy and interact with at home, including "Simon Says...". For viewers of a certain age, in the UK, that grew up watching Play School and Play Away, this gives an extra level of creepiness to the character. (Some of his surviving episodes can be found online).
This is the only Die Hard movie in which Bruce Willis does not have sole above-the-title billing.
Jonathan Hensleigh bought all the Mother Goose books for inspiration for Simon's lines.
In the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, Twentieth Century Fox took out trade press ads defending their decision to continue with the imminent release of a film about a terrorist planting bombs in public places.
Anthony Peck (Ricky Walsh) was also in Die Hard (1988). He was credited as "Young Cop".
The original casting of Simon's terrorist crew was with a mix of Soviet and Warsaw Pact baddies, and not East Germans. Only one Polish character (Otto) was retained from initial casting, and he became the butt of the East German's demeaning jokes.
Some of the bad guys are big, but some of them are standing on boxes to loom over McClane even more.
During its Pay-Per-View run in 1996, a bonus featurette followed the presentation of the movie, which included footage of some scenes with additional dialogue, such as the scene in the Federal Reserve Bank where Felix Little asks "You're in the flower business, Mr. Vanderflug?" and added is Simon replying "It's Vanderfluge, it rhymes with tulip." explaining why Felix pronounces the name correctly from that point on. This featurette is not included in the Special Edition DVD.
Bruce Willis was born in the former West Germany.
First version of the screenplay was based on a speculative script by James Haggin called "Troubleshooter", which involved terrorists seizing control of a Caribbean cruise ship while John and Holly are on a honeymoon cruise. The idea was abandoned after Under Siege (1992) went into production. It was long rumored that this script later became Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997), but this is not true, Speed 2 was based on original story by director Jan De Bont. In 1992 John Milius was hired to write another new script, which was rumored to take place in jungle, but for some reason it was rejected. In 1993 Doug Richardson and John Fasano simultaneously worked on two separate Die Hard 3 scripts, which were both rejected by Bruce Willis. The plot of Richardson's script was about terrorists taking control of the Los Angeles subway system, but their real intention is to burglarize the federal reserve of the city. The plot of Fasano's script had McClane pursuing kidnappers who have abducted his teenage daughter, believing her to be the child of a wealthy and powerful industrialist. Although both scripts were rejected, the ending of Richardson's "Die Hard in a subway" script was re-used by 20th Century Fox for ending of Speed (1994) when the script for that film was going through re-writes. And supposedly, Richardson re-used some parts of his rejected Die Hard 3 script in his original script for Money Train (1995), but the final script for that film was re-written by David Loughery so final film probably doesn't includes anything from Richardson's script.
The character "Dr. Fred Schiller" was a reference to the eighteenth century German poet Friedrich Schiller, who wrote the lyrics used by Ludwig van Beethoven in his 9th symphony, which was used in Die Hard (1988).
In the movie Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), Seth MacFarlane based the voice of Johann Krauss on Jeremy Irons' character from this film.
Jeremy Irons is the only Academy Award winner to play a Die Hard main villain.
Sam Phillips said that the sequence where Katya uses a knife to slice up a security guard until he is dead was hard for her to film, but she also admitted that it became easier when she noticed the actor playing the guard looked sort of like a real person she despised: Rush Limbaugh.
On the Die Hard (1988) Blu-ray commentary, production designer Jackson De Govia notes the company name on the truck in which the "raiders" (as he calls them) arrive in the first movie. It says "Pacific Courier", a joke, because it means "Messenger of Peace". DeGovia used a similar name (Atlantic Courier) and graphic on the truck that gets blown up at the start of this movie.
In real life, Alan Rickman was two years older than Jeremy Irons, despite the fact that in the "Die Hard" film franchise, Irons played the older brother.
This was shown on television on Tuesday, March 15, 2016, the same night that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton each won multiple Presidential primaries. Each one is mentioned off-hand in this movie.
This was John McTiernan's first real experience shooting in New York City.
When Zeus attempts to unlock the handcuffs that he and McClane are both cuffed to the bomb on the ship, Zeus says to him "Damn McClane, I was just starting to like you". In Die Hard 2 (1990), John Amos's villainous character Grant says John "Too bad, McClane, I kind of liked you" while fighting him on top of the wing of a moving airplane.
Katya never says a word and when she and Simon are about to have sex, and throughout the movie if one looks close enough, scars can be seen on her throat.
There is a war reference in the first three Die Hard movies. This film's reference is when the FBI agent references Battle of the Bulge (1965).
Similarities between the first screenplay and Under Siege (1992) were not the only holdup for the five-year gap between Die Hard 2 (1990) and this entry. Personal and financial tensions during the making of Die Hard 2 (1990), as well as The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) and Predator 2 (1990), led to Twentieth Century Fox severing ties with producer Joel Silver. In the interim between the two films, Lawrence Gordon founded his own production company, Largo Entertainment. Gordon and Silver had a rift when Silver wrangled Bruce Willis to star in The Last Boy Scout (1991) instead of the Largo production The Ticking Man, which was never filmed. Willis and Silver had a falling out over the course of making Hudson Hawk (1991) and The Last Boy Scout (1991). This prompted Andrew G. Vajna's Cinergi to produce this movie alongside Twentieth Century Fox and Hollywood Pictures. Gordon and Silver each received $750,000 buy-outs from the Cinergi deal.
Shane Black turned down an offer to write the screenplay after the original "Troubleshooter" draft was discarded.
Originally, there was already a sequel planned to Rapid Fire (1992) as part of a 3 picture deal with Fox, which was going to be called 'Simon Says'. This was remarkably later adapted into Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995). Actor Brandon Lee was to reprise the role as Jake Lo. Unfortunately, he passed away. Actress, Angela Bassett was to work alongside with Lee as well.
Danny Cannon was approached to direct, but he was more interested in making Judge Dredd (1995) at the time.
Buena Vista International owned the overseas rights through their distribution deal with Cinergi. As part of the Disney/Fox merger, The Walt Disney Company also has complete ownership of this film as well as the rest of the Die Hard series.
The racial argument is partially based on The Defiant Ones (1958).
Andrew G. Vajna took over as producer when Bruce Willis fell out with original producers Joel Silver and Lawrence Gordon.
In the later part of the movie, McClane ridicules Targo (played by Nick Wyman), for his size, by calling him "Lurch", making specific reference toThe Addams Family (1964)). The scene immediately cuts to bomb expert Charlie Weiss (Kevin Chamberlin), who, years later, was cast as Uncle Fester, in Addams Family the Musical, on Broadway.
There is a mathematical formula that can be applied to the St. Ives problem, called the Geometric Progression Formula, which is a(r^n - 1)/(r-1), "a" being the first term, "r" being the common ratio, and "n" being the number of terms of the geometric series. The 7 wives would be "a". The following 7s would be the common ratio. "N" would be 4 (i.e. kittens, cats, sacks, and wives). This translates to 7(7^4 - 1)/(7-1) = 7(2401-1)/6 = 7(2400)/6 = 16800/6 = 2800. This is all assuming the narrator going to St. Ives. and the man with seven wives are excluded.
Film debut of Kevin Chamberlin (Charles Weiss).
The last time producers Joel Silver and Lawrence Gordon were involved with the Die Hard franchise.
The total value of the 97,000 gold bars that are currently stored in the building in real life is about USD $326.32 Billion, that's a bit more than the $140 billion they stole in the movie. Adjusted for inflation, that $140 billion would be worth about $273 billion today.
Simon's helicopter is a SUD Aviation Aerospatiale SA341G Gazelle. This is the first helicopter to feature the Fenestron enclosed tail rotor system. This make and model was also the Blue Thunder helicopter.
The film was heavily censored for UK release to give it a 15 certificate so it could be seen by the youth market.
During the initial phone conversation between Simon and the police, when Simon calls back, he asks Zeus "so what's your name, boy?". In real life, Jeremy Irons is only 3 months older than Samuel L. Jackson. However, the reference "boy" is not based on age, but based on the use of the term in racial degrading of African Americans.
While the highway scenes are supposed to take place on the Saw Mill Parkway in Westchester County, New York, they were filmed on the Merritt Parkway in Fairfield County, Connecticut, and on the Taconic Parkway in Putnam County, New York.
This movie opened in U.S. theaters on May 19, 1995. Coincidentally, only 6 days earlier on May 13, Alexander Godunov (co-star from Die Hard (1988)) died at the age of forty-five.
According to filmmakers, one of the biggest problems they faced during development of several possible stories and scripts for the film, was the fact how there were so many films on which all other studios were working on which had similar "Die Hard in a -" setup which always included some lone hero fighting group of bad guys, usually terrorists who take over some location and everyone in it as hostages, that they had to make the third film into something new and its own story. Based on articles from the time when film was in production, over 30 Die Hard rip-offs were in development during that time, these include;
Gale Force and Maelstrom (Die Hard in hurricanes), Sandblast (Die Hard in a sandstorm), No Safe Haven (Die Hard on Martha's Vineyard), Trackdown (Die Hard in English Channel Tunnel), Suspension (Die Hard on George Washington Bridge), Platform and The Rig (Die Hard on an oil rigs), High Roller (Die Hard in a Las Vegas casino), In Contempt (Die Hard in a courthouse), Huddled Masses (Die Hard in the Statue of Liberty), State of the Union (Die Hard in Capitol building), Return to Sender (Die Hard in a post office), Vertical Run (Die Hard in an office building), The Dam (Die Hard at Hoover Dam), Off The Grid (Die Hard at Canadian dam), Pandora (Die Hard in defense plant), Meltdown (Die Hard in a nuclear power plant), Ground Zero (Die Hard in missile silo), Blast Off (Die Hard in a mission control), Troubleshooter (Die Hard on a cruise ship), Fast Track (Die Hard on a bullet train), The Number Four (Die Hard on a bus), The French Teacher (Die Hard in a Yosemite National Park), Rock Bottom (Die Hard in a cave), Apogee (Die Hard in a space shuttle), and others...
It's also worth mentioning how despite studios buying all of these scripts for some very high prices (sometimes close or over $ 1 million or more), none of these ended up getting made into films.
Gale Force and Maelstrom (Die Hard in hurricanes), Sandblast (Die Hard in a sandstorm), No Safe Haven (Die Hard on Martha's Vineyard), Trackdown (Die Hard in English Channel Tunnel), Suspension (Die Hard on George Washington Bridge), Platform and The Rig (Die Hard on an oil rigs), High Roller (Die Hard in a Las Vegas casino), In Contempt (Die Hard in a courthouse), Huddled Masses (Die Hard in the Statue of Liberty), State of the Union (Die Hard in Capitol building), Return to Sender (Die Hard in a post office), Vertical Run (Die Hard in an office building), The Dam (Die Hard at Hoover Dam), Off The Grid (Die Hard at Canadian dam), Pandora (Die Hard in defense plant), Meltdown (Die Hard in a nuclear power plant), Ground Zero (Die Hard in missile silo), Blast Off (Die Hard in a mission control), Troubleshooter (Die Hard on a cruise ship), Fast Track (Die Hard on a bullet train), The Number Four (Die Hard on a bus), The French Teacher (Die Hard in a Yosemite National Park), Rock Bottom (Die Hard in a cave), Apogee (Die Hard in a space shuttle), and others...
It's also worth mentioning how despite studios buying all of these scripts for some very high prices (sometimes close or over $ 1 million or more), none of these ended up getting made into films.
Jeremy Irons plays the brother of Alan Rickman's character from the first film. Rickman went on to appear in the Harry Potter films, and his death scene from Die Hard was the model for the scene in which he kills Dumbledore. Jeremy Irons played Snape in a French & Saunders spoof of the series.
On the DVD commentary, director John McTiernan mentions that Dick Cheney appears in a scene. He actually says "here he is", but Dick Cheney is not in the film. The person shown in the scene has a slight physical resemblance, but is not Dick Cheney. McTiernan made an error.
Known screenwriter Michael Cristofer, who plays Agent Bill Jarvis in this movie, wrote the screenplay for The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990).
John McClane's line that he was "smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo" is a lyric from The Statler Brothers's song "Flowers on the Wall".
Each of the first three "Die Hard" movies has a connection and/or reference to at least one of the three countries of Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Here, in the third one, it is during the scene when Walsh mentions Oslo, and Cobb asks, "Norway?"
Just one year later In the 1996 film, "The Long Kiss Goodnight", the Hennessy family was played by three actors from this film, Samuel L. Jackson, Sharon Washington, and Edwin Hodge.
In 1993, Samuel L. Jackson starred in the film National Lampoons Loaded Weapon 1. A comedic parody based on the Leathal Weapon ftabchise starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. Samuel L. Jackson portrayed a parody character of Danny Glovers character from the Leathal Weapon films in Loaded Weapon. The original script for Die Hard With Avengence was written and intended to be a script for Leathal Weapon 4. The go ahead for a 4th Leathal Weapon film fell through, and it was changed up to become a sequel for the Die Hard franchise instead. Ironically Samual L. Jackson has played 2 roles based on Danny Glovers Roger Murtog character. One being a spoof, and the other originally written for Glovers character.
This is the first Die Hard movie in which John McClane is a police officer for the actual city in which the movie takes place. In the first one, he works for the NYPD, but was in Los Angeles. In the second one, he works for the LAPD (in the movie he said he transferred there due to his wife's job) but was in Washington, D.C.
John McTiernan was unavailable to direct the second Die Hard because he was filming The Hunt for Red October, which featured Sam Neill. Samuel L Jackson appeared in the sequel, Patriot Games, and with Sam Neill in Jurassic Park.
The answer to the "St Ives" riddle gives the number to reach Simon Gruber. This is also the first number dialled by Homer Simpson's auto-dialler in S8E7 "Lisa's Date With Density".
At 47 mins.) When Simon is standing atop a building watching the cops and FBI scatter to look for the bomb, he reveals there he has an ulterior motive with the line "Hook, line, and sinker.". Right at this moment, we see the camera pan slowly from left to right across the face of a sandstone building, and down to see a line of dump trucks arriving along Maiden Lane, New York City. That building is actually the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in fact we aren't shown this until (55 mins.) when Simon and his thugs entering the lift to go to the vault, and one of the thugs has a badge on his uniform that says "FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK". This scene is shown from Simon's POV; his eyes are moving from his target (the building), to his trucks arriving. But it's not only a building we're seeing here. The wall of the Federal Reserve building is shining like stacked gold bullion bricks. It's very likely there's extra set lighting and a filter being used to enhance the colour and make the facade look more gold than it does in real life, or perhaps it's just the afternoon sun. The white discoloration on some bricks serves to further the effect of reflecting gold bricks. He is looking at his intended target with lust, as it shines like gold in the sun, waiting for him, out in the open, with no one to stop him.
Both Bruce Willis and Jeremy Irons were in media in the 1980s titled "Moonlighting". Irons starred in the 1982 film Moonlighting, while Willis starred alongside Cybill Shepherd on the ABC series Moonlighting from 1985-1989.
The radioplay TKKG - Folge 183: Blindgänger im Villenviertel makes many references to the Die Hard movies, including the character name John McClane.
Other Bruce Willis movies that feature a stutterer are The Sixth Sense (1999) and Color of Night (1994).
Brandon Lee was actually supposed to star in this movie when it was called Simon Says... It was reworking to Die Hard 3 after his unfortunate death
In the movie Dirty Harry (1971) the children while being held hostage in the school bus, are led by the Scorpio Killer singing two popular children's songs, one which is "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". This is the same song the children sing in the Chester A. Arthur school auditorium while held hostage.
William Wisher was hired by executive producer Andrew G. Vajna to rewrite the script, Wisher had previously worked on Judge Dredd (1995), which was also produced by Vajna, originally planning to stay on the film's production for a few weeks, Wisher would leave seven and a half months later.
One of the tasks that Simon sets for John McClane and Zeus Carver involves the "St Ives" riddle. St Ives is a seaside village in Cornwall, England. Interestingly Jeremy Irons (Simon) was born in Cowes, Isle of Wight, a small island off the south coast of England. So it's likely that Irons had heard of St Ives, long before he recited the riddle in this third entry in the Die Hard series.
Jeremy Irons and Bruce Willis previously played men who embark on a passionate affair with a younger woman. Irons with Juliette Binoche in Damage (1992) and Willis with Jane March in Color of Night (1994).
When John McClane and Zeus get into the taxi (after the confrontation with the youths), in the back window, there looks to be a commemorative football from the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. The flag used by the Northern Ireland team is visible at different angles. The last World Cup they featured in was in 1986.
There is a false myth about how early script for this film was later changed into Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997). Just like similar movie myths about how first Die Hard (1988) was originally Commando 2 script, or how this third Die Hard film was originally rejected Lethal Weapon 4 script, this is absolutely not true, and as movie news articles from early to mid 90's about production of third film reveal, the full story is lot more complicated. Because producer Joel Silver and 20th Century Fox wanted for third Die Hard film to take place on a ship, there were several scripts written by W. Peter Iliff between 1991 and 1992 for Die Hard 3 which would take place on cruise ship in Carribbean where John McClane and his wife are when it gets taken over by terrorists who threaten to blow it up with the bomb. Iliff, who just wrote Point Break (1991) which turned into huge hit and was one of the main reasons why he got the job of writing Die Hard 3, was actually re-writing some other spec script titled Troubleshooter by another writer James Haggin, which he wrote in late 1989 and sold to Largo Entertainment in March of 1990, but Fox bought it from them in 1991 because they thought it was good enough to be turned into Die Hard 3.
Due to original script not being written as Die Hard film, it was taking lot of time for it to be re-written, but all the re-writes lead to other issues like constantly increasing budget due to all the big action scenes the script had, such as final battle between McClane and terrorists taking place while ship is sinking. Iliff was at his second re-write of the script when similar film titled Dreadnought starring Steven Seagal went into production at Warner Bros., and by the time Iliff did his third re-write to make sure their Die Hard 3 won't be similar to it, Dreadnought was re-titled first to Last To Surrender (because producers wanted three word title like Seagal's previous films had) and then to Under Siege (1992), Fox decided it was pointless to keep trying to make this version of third film. Ironically enough, before it was bought by Warner Bros for $ 1 million, J.F. Lawton's original 1990 spec script for Under Siege (titled Dreadnought) was offered to Joel Silver to be possibly re-written into Die Hard 3, but he refused, possibly because that spec was much more action packed (even lot more than the final film) and would need very high budget. He and Fox even bought another similar spec titled Supertanker just to shelve it to make sure it doesn't gets made before Die Hard 3 they were developing.
Between 1993 and 1994 at least three more different versions of Die Hard 3 were written, one by John Milius which took place in jungle, one by Dough Richardson which took place in Los Angeles subways which get taken over by terrorists who are actually planning to rob federal reserve of the city, and one by John Fasano which took place across entire city (New York or L.A.) as McClane chases kidnappers who took his teenage daughter thinking she was the daughter of some rich industrialist, all of which were rejected, although the ending of Richardson's script was used for ending of Speed (1994), which Richardson confirmed in interviews. Finally, after Brandon Lee's death on set of The Crow (1994), Fox took another spec script Simon Says by Jonathan Hensleigh which was supposed to be Lee's next film, or possibly be re-written into sequel to Lee's Rapid Fire (1992), and after that one went through dozens of different re-writes by writers such as Lorenzo Semple Jr, David Shaber, Dan Bronson and others including Hensleigh and lot of changes, it was finally made into Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995).
Original Troubleshooter script which was almost made into Die Hard 3 did went back to Largo Entertainment who attempted to make it again around 1994, but it was never made. Jan De Bont was the one who came up with story for Speed 2 and he wasn't even aware of this entire history about unmade Die Hard 3 on cruise ship, but according to John McTiernan, who wasn't even a fan of the entire idea of Die Hard 3 taking place on a ship, only things Fox did took from the scripts which were developed for it and re-used in Speed 2 were very few small similarities.
Due to original script not being written as Die Hard film, it was taking lot of time for it to be re-written, but all the re-writes lead to other issues like constantly increasing budget due to all the big action scenes the script had, such as final battle between McClane and terrorists taking place while ship is sinking. Iliff was at his second re-write of the script when similar film titled Dreadnought starring Steven Seagal went into production at Warner Bros., and by the time Iliff did his third re-write to make sure their Die Hard 3 won't be similar to it, Dreadnought was re-titled first to Last To Surrender (because producers wanted three word title like Seagal's previous films had) and then to Under Siege (1992), Fox decided it was pointless to keep trying to make this version of third film. Ironically enough, before it was bought by Warner Bros for $ 1 million, J.F. Lawton's original 1990 spec script for Under Siege (titled Dreadnought) was offered to Joel Silver to be possibly re-written into Die Hard 3, but he refused, possibly because that spec was much more action packed (even lot more than the final film) and would need very high budget. He and Fox even bought another similar spec titled Supertanker just to shelve it to make sure it doesn't gets made before Die Hard 3 they were developing.
Between 1993 and 1994 at least three more different versions of Die Hard 3 were written, one by John Milius which took place in jungle, one by Dough Richardson which took place in Los Angeles subways which get taken over by terrorists who are actually planning to rob federal reserve of the city, and one by John Fasano which took place across entire city (New York or L.A.) as McClane chases kidnappers who took his teenage daughter thinking she was the daughter of some rich industrialist, all of which were rejected, although the ending of Richardson's script was used for ending of Speed (1994), which Richardson confirmed in interviews. Finally, after Brandon Lee's death on set of The Crow (1994), Fox took another spec script Simon Says by Jonathan Hensleigh which was supposed to be Lee's next film, or possibly be re-written into sequel to Lee's Rapid Fire (1992), and after that one went through dozens of different re-writes by writers such as Lorenzo Semple Jr, David Shaber, Dan Bronson and others including Hensleigh and lot of changes, it was finally made into Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995).
Original Troubleshooter script which was almost made into Die Hard 3 did went back to Largo Entertainment who attempted to make it again around 1994, but it was never made. Jan De Bont was the one who came up with story for Speed 2 and he wasn't even aware of this entire history about unmade Die Hard 3 on cruise ship, but according to John McTiernan, who wasn't even a fan of the entire idea of Die Hard 3 taking place on a ship, only things Fox did took from the scripts which were developed for it and re-used in Speed 2 were very few small similarities.
Spoilers
Jonathan Hensleigh was detained by the FBI after completing the script for the film because he knew extensive information about the Federal Gold Reserve in downtown Manhattan. Hensleigh stated that he got all the information from an article written in the New York Times.
The studio told screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh to remove the scenes with McClane walking around Harlem wearing a sign that says, "I hate niggers". They allowed him to keep the scene when he threatened to take the script to another studio.
When Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson) picks up the gold bar at the Federal Reserve, he says "Damn, this IS heavy". A standard gold bar kept at the Federal Reserve weighs approximately twenty-five pounds.
Sir Sean Connery was director John McTiernan's first choice for the role of Simon Gruber. He turned down the role, saying that he didn't want to play such a diabolical villain.
There are two solutions to the water jug riddle in the park, at the elephant fountain. To place exactly 4 gallons of water on the scales when you only have two jugs which hold 3 and 5 gallons respectively, you must do either of the following. 1. Fill the 5 gallon jug and decant the water into the 3 gallon jug. This leaves two gallons in the big jug. 2. Empty the 3 gallon jug and pour in the two gallons from the 5 gallon jug, leaving space for one gallon in the small jug. 3. Refill the 5 gallon jug and pour water from it into the 3 gallon jug until the small jug's full. 4. That leaves exactly four gallons in the big jug; put it on the scale and the bomb is disarmed. The second method is: 1. Fill the 3 gallon jug and pour the water into the 5 gallon jug. 2. Refill the 3 gallon jug, and pour into the 5 gallon jug until the big jug is full, leaving one gallon in the small jug. 3. Empty the big jug, and transfer the one gallon from the small jug to the big jug. 4. Refill the small jug and pour all three gallons into the 5 gallon jug, resulting in four gallons in the big jug. Place the big jug on the scale and the bomb is disarmed.
Trucks aren't allowed on the F.D.R., as stated in the movie by Detective Connie Kowalski (Colleen Camp), but the city made a special exception for the filmmakers.
When McClane is dropped off in Harlem, he expected to be dead in four minutes. When the gang members across the street from Zeus' shop discover McClane wearing the "I Hate N*****s" sandwich board sign, four minutes have elapsed in real time.
In the original edit, when the school bomb starts leaking onto Charlie, he says "Corn syrup?". In the European and later blu ray edit, that line is changed to "Pancake syrup".
McClane only has two bullets at his disposal to kill Simon in the finale of the film. He also only had two bullets in Die Hard (1988) to kill Simon's brother, Hans, and his last remaining associate.
When McClane enters the Federal Reserve, and encounters Karl disguised as a security guard, Karl tries to have a casual conversation with McClane. There are two instances during this exchange in which his dialogue would potentially blow his cover as an American. Before he and McClane enter the elevator, he asks McClane what he thought about the weather and says "it feels like it's...gonna rain like...dogs and cats later." Not only does he misquote a fairly standard English expression, but he also has to think a bit as he is trying to sound more American. He then calls the elevator a "lift", another mistake that would give away that he is not actually American.
When posing as a city engineer, Simon Gruber (Jeremy Irons) uses a heavy American accent to fool his adversaries. The same trick was used by his brother Hans (Alan Rickman) in Die Hard (1988). Like his brother, Simon also uses a hostage situation as a front for a big heist, and despite extensive communication between him and McClane, they do not meet in person until the end.
Despite not being set at Christmas, it still references Die Hard (1988) and Die Hard 2 (1990) (which were set at Christmas) with sarcastic comments regarding Santa Claus. The shoplifting kids also say "It's Christmas, you could steal city hall!" While in the aqueduct, McClane further mentions "We got a report of some guy coming through here with eight reindeer", then shoots the terrorist and continues, "They said he was a jolly old fat guy, with a snowy white beard, and a cute little red-and-white suit. I'm surprised you guys didn't see him." Finally, when disarming the bomb hidden in a fridge, Charles Weiss mentions, "and a partridge in a pear tree" from the Twelve Days of Christmas.
McClane driving a car through Central Park was based on a fantasy Jonathan Hensleigh had about being able to cut through the park to avoid traffic.
After the Dam explosion, when the water first reaches Bruce Willis and the reversing truck, you can hear the melody from Singin' in the Rain (1952), in the music score.
In the original Die Hard (1988), the villains are assumed to be terrorists, but turn out to be thieves. In Die Hard 2 (1990), the villains are assumed to be (luggage) thieves, but turn out to be terrorists. Here, the villains turn out to be terrorists AND thieves. The subsequent sequels do not follow this formula.
The final fight between McClane and Simon takes place at a truck stop in Quebec. The scenes were filmed at the TA truck stop off I-95 in Jessup, Maryland.
Interestingly, Mathias Targo (Nick Wyman) is furious to discover that the containers are filled with scrap, rather than the gold which is supposed to be blown up, leveling the economic "playing field" of the world. This may mean that he, unlike Simon, Katya, and seemingly all the other terrorists believe that there was a genuine ideological motivation behind the plot. He would perhaps be the first terrorist in the franchise to be truly acting for such reasons rather than for simple financial gain.
During the scene when the FBI mentions Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), Inspector Walter Cobb (Larry Bryggman) asks what they are talking about; Ricky Walsh (Anthony Peck) replies directly to him and says "that thing in the building in L.A." In fact, Anthony Peck also played a cop with the LAPD in Die Hard (1988). He appeared in scenes mainly with Sergeant Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson) outside of the Nakatomi building. Whether or not he is supposed to be the same character in this movie is unclear, although it would seem a strange casting choice if he wasn't the same character, after a career change.
The subway scene, when Zeus is held at gunpoint by the police officer, is more or less the same scene that Samuel L. Jackson re-played later as "Frozone" in The Incredibles (2004). In both scenes, Jackson had to reach for something while a nervous police officer told him to "freeze".
The bridge from which McClane and Zeus jump to the container ship in the harbor is the Cooper River Bridge that connects Charleston and Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. A new bridge opened in July 2005, and the two pre-existing bridges that have long been a symbol of Charleston were removed. Much of the film was shot in the Charleston area, including the subway station which was built on a stage in Mount Pleasant. The Cooper River Bridge scenes were set on an unnamed bridge near Bridgeport, Connecticut, on Long Island Sound.
Some of the violent and bloody scenes from the film had to be cut down for an R rating after John McTiernan's original cut got an NC-17 rating. For example, cuts were made on some of the death scenes, and the fight scene between McClane and Targo was heavily cut. If you look closely during the scene where McClane beats Targo with a chain, one moment he is hitting him with it, and in next shot, when Targo is on the ground, he has the chain around his face. The on-set "Making of" documentary shows some clips of deleted and alternative scenes, including one which shows the uncut death of the guy that McClane shoots on the boat.
The scenes involving the subway bombing were filmed in an abandoned nuclear missile silo in Charleston, South Carolina.
Simon Gruber is revealed as formerly being a part of a special crack English speaking German military unit like in the "Battle of the Bulge" by the FBI. He flaunts this by correctly using idioms (phrases that do not translate into other languages easily) such as "Holy Toledo". This is in stark contrast to Karl, Simon's flunkie, who gives himself away when he thinks Indian summer means it will rain "dogs and cats" instead of being unseasonably warm, and additionally gives himself away but not saying the normal version version of the phrase for rain "cats and dogs".
A novelization by Deborah Chiel was first published on May 28, 1995. The novel is written in Third Person Omniscient and has a somewhat darker tone in comparison to the final film. The novel provides a deeper exploration into McClane's psyche, and sees how angry and broken he has become, since leaving Holly and becoming an alcoholic. McClane's introduction is also different. In the film, McClane is first seen in the police van to Harlem, while being briefed on what is going on. The novel includes a scene before this, where Connie and Joe find McClane in his messy apartment. Simon's henchwoman Katya appears much later into the story, than she does in the film. She isn't involved in the Federal Reserve robbery, and instead appears just before Simon and Targo take off in one of the dump trucks. Like the final film, she ends up killing Targo for Simon. The original placement of the "Yippee-Ki-Yay" line is included, as it was originally intended. Instead of being used at the end, McClane uses the line when talking to Simon over the radios while in the aqueducts. This was meant to be in the same vein, as the original use of the line, in the first movie. Zeus' original backstory is presented in the novel, explaining why he's looking after his nephews and why he hates white people. During the car chase, Zeus explains that his brother was killed during a drug raid. When McClane suggests that it was his brother's own fault, Zeus explains that his brother was never involved in drugs, and the only reason he was there was to bring Zeus home. The novel also uses the "McClane Says" ending rather than the film's version of the finale.
When the feds are questioning McClane and Zeus and looking for a link between Simon and McClane, the music tentatively repeats a series of four notes. It is very subtle but they begin to sound familiar. Then the viewer realizes that it is from the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's 9th Symphony, which is the main theme throughout the original Die Hard film, linking Hans Gruber with Simon.
WILHELM SCREAM: As they are driving through Central Park, Zeus asks McClane if he is aiming for the people, to which McClane replies, "No. Maybe that mime." An abbreviated Wilhelm Scream can be heard immediately following the "No".
Each of the Gruber brothers, Simon and Hans, have a man named "Karl" on his team. Karl in Die Hard (1988) is the thief shot by Sergeant Powell at the end. In this film, Karl is stationed at the Federal Reserve bank, and is killed by McClane in the elevator sequence.
Just like in Die Hard (1988), the life of McClane (Bruce Willis) is saved by a gun taped to his back, even though he does not use it himself this time.
It was calculated that the value of the gold in this movie was worth approximately $100 billion. In 2015, this value has been adjusted for inflation so that 100 billion of 1995 dollars would be worth $157,232,704,402 dollars in 2015.
To both compare and contrast the Gruber brothers, John McTiernan employs several parallels to express the similarities and differences of the criminal kin: Hans Gruber is introduced exiting a truck with his entourage in tow, establishing himself as the boss. Simon as well, is walking down Wall Street with his disguised thugs exiting a vehicle and joining him. While Hans has Ode to Joy as his main theme, representing his classical and theatrical nature, Simon's theme is When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again, to symbolize his perspective as a soldier with purpose. Both brothers have henchmen that carry unique traits that make them distinctive, and both use a fictional motivations to cast shadow on their true intentions. On a more superficial note; both are portrayed by English born actors utilizing German accents; the late Alan Rickman and Jeremy Irons.
McClane and Carver successfully disarm a bomb and hand it off to some cops who are actually the bad guys in disguise. Even after the good guys have left, the "cops" agree they had better hang onto the bomb in case some kids get a hold of it. Of course, much later in the movie it turns out the bomb in the school is a fake. The bad guys are willing to lie, steal, and kill, but aren't willing to kill children.
Despite Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson) handling a gun twice in the film, he never fires either of them.
Jeremy Irons later appeared in Comic Relief 2003: The Big Hair Do (2003) as Severus Snape, a role originally played by his on-screen brother Alan Rickman.
The school kids "trapped" by the madman's plot are singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." It's the same song that the kids trapped by the madman in Dirty Harry (1971) are forced to sing.
When Simon, posing as the city engineer, meets Ricky Walsh, you can see a blurry, but visible red sign on the building in the background. This is the Home Insurance Company building, and that company purchased the red cover so that it would be seen in the movie as they felt that the original bronze signage would not be visible.
In carrying on the Die Hard Christmas theme, when the bomb tech is defusing the bomb at the school, he sings "six booby traps , four dead ends and a partridge in a pear tree."
The dump truck driven by John McClane has "Thur & Samson Earth Movers, Inc." on the door. The locations department for the movie include a Pamela Thur and Robin F. Samson.
There is an alternative ending to this movie. Simon actually got away, smuggling the gold out of the country by melting it and disguising it as small Eiffel Tower statues (he also screwed over his own men) and escaped to Hungary. McClane has been fired from the police, but manages to find Simon in a cafe in Budapest. He confronts Simon and invites him to play a round of "McClane says", playing "Russian roulette" with a Chinese rocket launcher (he filed off the aim, so it is unclear which way it will fire). Simon can answer most of McClanes clever riddles, but is stumped when John asks him something only he knows. Simon then has to fire the rocket launcher, dying from the hit. It turns out McClane wore a bulletproof vest and double-crossed him.
After surviving the boat explosion, John McClane calls his wife Holly from a payphone on the advice of Zeus. While calling collect, he tells someone - presumably a relative - named Carmine to "accept the charges". Carmine Zozzora had a small role in Die Hard (1988), and was a top-billed co-producer on Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995).
