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20th Century-Fox/Photofest1 of 10It wasn't supposed to be a hit. It was a script that had been passed on by all the usual action movie suspects (Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Ford, Gibson), the actor playing the bad guy was some unknown Brit making his big screen debut, and the hero was going to be played by the snarky dude from "Moonlighting".
And yet here was are 25 years later, celebrating not only "Die Hard"'s silver anniversary, but anticipating a brand new Bruce Willis/John McClane adventure in just a few weeks ("A Good Day to Die Hard"). To mark the occasion, 20th Century Fox is issuing a brand new 25th anniversary Blu-ray box set on January 29th - but here are some things you might not know about the movies you've seen a hundred times...
10. Originally, the script that would eventually become "Die Hard" started out as a planned sequel to the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie "Commando". As a nod to its origins, the South American dictator being shuttled to Washington D.C. in "Die Hard 2" hails from the fictional country of Val Verde, which just happens to be the same made-up country Dan Hedaya's villainous Arius is from in Commando. -
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20th Century Fox/Photofest2 of 109. In fact, the "Die Hard" franchise never lets a good script languish - a generic action thriller spec script about a terrorist holding New York City hostage called "Simon Says" was purchased and refitted to suit the adventures of John McClane (the "Simon" being revealed to be Simon Gruber, brother of original "Die Hard" bad guy Hans). Good thing they nabbed it, too, because the script was also being eyed as a potential template for "Lethal Weapon 4".
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Wikimedia3 of 108. Yes, there is a "real" Nakatomi Plaza - the building that served as the exterior of the hijacked skyscraper is in Century City, California and is actually the primary office building of 20th Century Fox (which is why it was so easy for the production crew to secure the shooting rights).
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20th Century Fox4 of 107. The teddy bear that John McClane is carrying off the plane in the opening scene of "Die Hard" is the same bear that Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) has with him at the end of "The Hunt for Red October" (both films were directed by John McTiernan).
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Clik here to view.20th Century Fox/Photofest5 of 106. One of the rejected concepts for the fourth installment, "Live Free or Die Hard", involved John McClane's son working in Japan for the Nakatomi Corporation. Instead, the movie ended up focusing more on McClane's daughter, Lucy (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead), with the son, Jack, being saved for movie #5, "A Good Day to Die Hard" (where he's working in Russia, not Japan).
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Clik here to view.Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images6 of 105. Bruce Willis has a unique souvenir from the "Die Hard" movies - he's partially deaf. While filming the scene in the first movie where McClane kills one of Hans Gruber's thugs from underneath a conference room table, the gun Willis was firing was too close to his head, causing him significant hearing loss in his left ear.
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Clik here to view.Frank Masi/20th Century Fox/Photofest7 of 104. "Live Free or Die Hard" was the first "Die Hard" movie to be rated PG-13 instead of R, which rendered McClane's signature catchphrase all but unusable (the "yippee ki-yay" is there, but the "mother***er" had to be muffled by a gunshot). This seems to be only an isolated bad decision - word is that "A Good Day to Die Hard" will be rated R.
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Clik here to view.CafePress/Amazon8 of 103. The original "Die Hard"'s gang of thieves arrives at the Nakatomi building in vans marked "Pacific Courier." This fictional company name also appears on a truck in the action movie "Speed" (directed by Jan de Bont, who was the director of photography on "Die Hard"). If you watch closely, Simon Gruber and his posse use trucks marked "Atlantic Courier" in the New York-set "Die Hard with the Vengeance".
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Clik here to view.20th Century Fox9 of 102. In order to avoid having copies stolen and pirated, "Live Free or Die Hard" was shipped to theaters under the code name (what else?) "New Hampshire."
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Clik here to view.Universal Pictures/Photofest10 of 10Next: Things You Didn't Know About The Dark Knight Trilogy1. Actor De'voreaux White made a huge impression as motor-mouthed limo driver Argyle in the original "Die Hard", but the young actor had been cutting his teeth for years before he picked up John McClane - in fact, he made his big screen debut as the young guitar thief who almost gets shot by Ray Charles in "The Blues Brothers":
