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29 March 2024

Celeb corner

Bruce Willis (SUPPLIED)

Published
By Staff Writers

Grossing $383 million at the box-office since its 2007 release, 53-year-old Bruce Willis still managed to "Yipee ki yay" in the fourth installment of the Die Hard franchise and possibly even inspire the 60-year-old Harrison Ford to revive his action-man Indiana Jones persona the following year.

Emirates Business chats with Willis about his reluctant hero act as Die Hard 4.0's John McClane, featuring on Star Movies tomorrow.

Why do another Die Hard film? The first film is my favourite. After I did Die Hard, I said I was never going to do another one again and, of course, I did three more. Die Hard 2 and Die Hard 3 didn't really live up to the promise of the first.

Why did you want to return to the old-school action film? Director Len Wiseman and I both felt that there are so many films driven by computer-generated images (CGI). We wanted to do as much of it without using CGI. In the film, I battle with a jet and there is some kind of rule that you can't fly jets on the streets of Washington, DC (laughs) so some of that's computer generated. I did 75 per cent of my own stunts.

Why do audiences have such affection for John McClane? In Die Hard, it was the ordinary guy thrown into extraordinary circumstances. Prior to that, action films were about superheroes. And there is John McClane's dark sense of humour.

Would you consider doing Die Hard 5? I can envision doing Die Hard 5. I don't know what the script would be, but I know the studio is thrilled with the way Die Hard 4 turned out. A sequel seems inevitable and this one's plot about terrorists posing a digital threat to the United States is a good story.

So how computer-savvy are you? I know a lot about computers and what I don't know I ask my 15-year-old daughter. All my daughters know far more about computers then I do. But I do have a Blackberry and I get emails on that.

What are your memories of the first Die Hard? I was 31 when I did the first one and still learning how to act. I got to do that film because [Moonlighting co-star] Cybill Shepherd fell pregnant, production on the TV show shut down and I had an 11-week window to do the film.

Your daughter is under threat in this film. As a father of three daughters, how protective are you? We have managed to send our three daughters into the world loaded with information about boys.

Die Hard 4.0 On Star Movies tomorrow at 9.30pm; February 2 at 12.25pm; and February 13 at 11pm.