So Bruce Willis just won’t let his “Die Hard” character Officer John McClane die, huh? During press for Kevin Smith’s “Cop Out” and an interview with MTV, the 56-year-old star said he might not be done with the “yippie kai yay”-ing, lame quips and uber explosions that have marred that series ever since he decided to get in the mega-franchise business.
“I think we’re going to do a ‘Die Hard 5’ next year,” Willis revealed. “I would hire Len Wiseman right now [and] it’s gotta go worldwide is the only thing I would say, that would be my contribution to it.”
“Die Hard 4” aka “Live Free or Die Hard” (directed by Wiseman) might have easily been the most creatively bankrupt of the series, but commercially it was the most successful, raking in about $366 million total worldwide (and $266 million in international grosses helped a ton; meat machines like Willis and Stallone are still big stars overseas).
Not to let a decent, half-assed idea die, Willis also told MTV that he and M. Night Shyamalan recently discussed the possibility for an “Unbreakable 2,” something that the director has been threatening to do for quite some time now since its one of the most geek-beloved of his films (and therefore completely overrated). “Unbreakable” centered on a man that miraculously survives a train crash and then ultimately discovers (in one of Shyamalan’s patented surprise twists) that he is a super hero with invincible powers and the wheelchair bound mystic (Samuel L. Jackson) who has been tormenting him all along turns out to be his super villain arch enemy (and the film has one of the most anticlimactic conclusions in modern day moviemaking).
So Bruce wouldn’t be opposed to this one either. “I talked to [Shymalan] over the holidays and he’s still thinking about doing the fight movie between me and Sam that we were going to do and we chose to do the origin,” Willis said, adding. “As long as Sam [Jackson] can make it, I’m up for it.”
Did Willis not learn anything about “Indy 4” or hell even “Live Free or Die Hard”? Can anyone point out an example of a fourth or fifth sequel entry that wasn’t tripe? (Don’t say “Star Wars: A New Hope,” as its only technically the fourth film of that series).