Kontraband Know It All

Was Die Hard based on a book? What are the major differences?
Like most good films, Die Hard was based on a book. The book was called Nothing Lasts Forever and was published in 1979. The writer behind the practically indestructible cop was Roderick Thorp who passed away in 1999. Thorp's character, Joe Leland (who became John McClane in the films), originated in his 1966 crime thriller novel The Detective. The Detective was made into a film in 1968 with Frank Sinatra as the world-weary ex-fighter pilot turned lawman. Sinatra turned down the chance to appear in the sequel.
Other differences show how dark the book is compared to the film. In the book, Leland is trying to save his daughter from terrorists, and even though he manages to kill the leader (Anton Gruber), his daughter gets killed in the process. In the book, Leland's wounds are much more serious and he also kills female terrorists. Leland's cop helper is a 22 year old rookie (a veteran sergeant in the film) and the company at the heart of the story is involved in corrupt deals with a South American dictatorship rather than based on a thinly-veiled heist by Armani-clad accent-spewing luvvies. Both book and film have the central hero running around in bare feet. Because of all the shards of glass on the floor, Bruce Willis wore special rubber shoes designed to look like his own feet, which explains why in some scenes he looks like a long lost relative of Bilbo Baggins.

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Which is the best Die Hard film? Which has been the most successful?
It's too early to say if the rather oddly titled A Good Day to Die Hard will be the best of the franchise or the most successful, but the best one so far is the original. Die Hard exploded in the cinema in 1988 and had kids in the playground running around shouting "Yippee-ki-yay, motherf**ker" for months afterwards. In fact, such is the cultural impact of the original Die Hard film that Bruce Willis donated the iconic and very grimy blood-stained vest he wore to the National Museum of American History.
Live Free or Die Hard ("Die Hard 4") has been the most financially successful, grossing $383 million. However, that was off a $110 million budget. The original Die Hard was made for $28 million and grossed $140 million, five times its budget, making it the most successful in comparison. Some curious Die Hard trivia: many of the extras used for terrorists in the original film were male models and McClane "only" kills 10 people in the first film, compared to 25 for Die Hard 2: Die Harder. In fact, for the first 4 films, McClane kills in the region of 60 people. Apparently Lord of the Rings: Return of the King has one of the highest ever film body counts with 836 people dying, unless you count the millions of cinema-goers who watched any of The Twilight Saga and died a little inside.

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Who were the main villains in the Die Hard films? Who was the most evil?
The main villains in the Die Hard films were as follows: Die Hard has Hans Gruber (sinisterly portrayed by Alan Rickman), Die Hard 2: Die Harder had Colonel Stuart (po-faced William Sadler), Die Hard with a Vengeance featured Simon Gruber (Jeremy Irons camping it up) and Live Free or Die Hard featured Thomas Gabriel (the menacing Timothy Olyphant). The latest instalment, A Good Day to Die Hard, has a father and daughter team of villains with Yuri and Irina Komarov (played by Sebastian Koch and Yuliya Snigir).
Obviously Alan Rickman's snarling and ruthless Hans Gruber was the most evil, willing to kill anyone who gets in his way of trying to steal $640 million in bearer bonds. His avenging brother Simon (Jeremy Irons) tried to be as evil in Die Hard with a Vengeance, but looked a bit too much like a Kraftwerk roadie with his bleach blonde Caesar crop and too-tight blue vest. This is the film which has John McClane being rescued by Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson) after being forced to wear a sandwich board reading "I hate niggers" whilst strolling around Harlem. In reality, Willis wore a blank board, with the offensive words being added on by CGI in post-production. For television screenings, the board features the much less incendiary slogan "I hate everybody" and for television channels in the Liverpool area it reads "I hate Manchester United".

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What are some cool facts about the Die Hard franchise?
Bruce Willis was not the first choice as John McClane; the role was also offered to Mel Gibson and Richard Gere. To add insult to injury (or more accurately, injury to insult) Willis also managed to hurt himself during shooting. Extra-loud blanks were used in some of the gunfights - in the scene where Willis shoots through a table to kill a terrorist he ended up permanently damaging his hearing. Alan Rickman thought he would be falling off a 21ft model onto an air bag for his final scene and would be dropped by a stuntman on a count of 3. The stuntman let go of Rickman on a count of 2, much to the actor's surprise, allowing director John McTiernan to get a more realistic shot.
Die Hard has links with the Schwarzenegger action-fest that is Commando. In Commando, Colonel Matrix invades the Latin American country of Val Verde, the same fictitious country that Die Hard 2's General Ramon Esperanza comes from. Die Hard director John McTiernan was going to make Commando 2, but big Arn wasn't interested, so the plot was re-jigged to become Die Hard. Arnie was also offered the role of McClane but turned it down. Die Hard 4 was originally subtitled Tears of the Sun, a title which Willis used for his 2003 film of the same name. Finally, Bruce's real first name is Walter and he bravely showed little "Walter" on the big screen for his 1994 nookie film Colour of Night.

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