403 replies to this topic

[Skudor]

What a truly awful title.

[Agent 76]

the title would be better with just the simple:



DIE HARDER

[Qwerty]

the title would be better with just the simple:



DIE HARDER

I doubt we'd see that (although somewhat better) as it was part of the second film's title.

[The Dove]

Ahh who cares about the title.. Personally I like the sound of how this will turn out according to the review of the new script draft.. I have high hopes for this.

[stamper]

With such a bad title, that movie is DEAD HARD

[The Dove]

Well it looks like as production gets under way for LFODH, some more confirmed casting has been announced. According to wikipedia, along with Bruce Wills and Justin Long, Adrian Brody has been confirmed to be the baddie in the fourth Die Hard film.

http://en.wikipedia....ree_or_Die_Hard

Great choice in my opinion!! Brody is a terrific actor and I think he'll be an excellent nemesis for John McClane.

[Loomis]

Doesn't seem very confirmed to me. I'll be very surprised if Brody is the villain - it'd be a massive step down for him after THE PIANIST (Oscar for Best Actor), THE JACKET and KING KONG. To go from all that to being the baddie in the new DIE HARD sequel? Nah. Apparently, he was interested in playing The Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT, but then the Batman franchise has the sort of critical respect that the DIE HARD series (which is, frankly, a bit of a joke these days) could only dream of. Yeah, the similarly-acclaimed Jeremy Irons played the bad guy in the third DIE HARD.... but that was over a decade ago.

I don't see this happening at all.

[Agent 76]

why not Pierce as the bad guy?

I've become a bigger fan of the title in the latest months, IMO it's in fact a cool title.

Live Free or Die Hard

[The Dove]

Yeah exactly Agent76.. Live Free or Die Hard is really growing on me as well as a pretty cool title.. I wasn't much of a fan of the Die Hard with a Vengeance title, but I like it now.

I guess you're right Loomis about being wary about Adrien Brody being confirmed for the bad guy. Wikipedia seems to be the only site where I have seen his name come up so I guess I'll have to calm down and be paitient..although filming is supposed to begin this month, so you'd think they release the cast list soon!!

[Qwerty]

Doesn't seem very confirmed to me. I'll be very surprised if Brody is the villain - it'd be a massive step down for him after THE PIANIST (Oscar for Best Actor), THE JACKET and KING KONG. To go from all that to being the baddie in the new DIE HARD sequel? Nah. Apparently, he was interested in playing The Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT, but then the Batman franchise has the sort of critical respect that the DIE HARD series (which is, frankly, a bit of a joke these days) could only dream of. Yeah, the similarly-acclaimed Jeremy Irons played the bad guy in the third DIE HARD.... but that was over a decade ago.

I don't see this happening at all.

...agreed, but I wouldn't mind it at all if it did. I think Brody could be a pretty interesting villain.

[The_Mole]

It is a truly horrendous title. Even 'Why Don't You Just Go and Die Hard' sounds better.

[DLibrasnow]

It is a truly horrendous title. Even 'Why Don't You Just Go and Die Hard' sounds better.

I think it's a clever play on words of the New Hampshire slogan.

[Harmsway]

It is a truly horrendous title. Even 'Why Don't You Just Go and Die Hard' sounds better.

I think it's a clever play on words of the New Hampshire slogan.

But it's not even set in New Hampshire...

[DamnCoffee]

Never been a Great fan of Die Hard myself - hadn't had the time to sit down and watch the movies but i must say the new title would'nt attract me to rush and book a seat at the Cinema

[DLibrasnow]

http://wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=918973

[Loomis]

Doesn't seem very confirmed to me. I'll be very surprised if Brody is the villain - it'd be a massive step down for him after THE PIANIST (Oscar for Best Actor), THE JACKET and KING KONG. To go from all that to being the baddie in the new DIE HARD sequel? Nah. Apparently, he was interested in playing The Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT, but then the Batman franchise has the sort of critical respect that the DIE HARD series (which is, frankly, a bit of a joke these days) could only dream of. Yeah, the similarly-acclaimed Jeremy Irons played the bad guy in the third DIE HARD.... but that was over a decade ago.

I don't see this happening at all.

...agreed, but I wouldn't mind it at all if it did. I think Brody could be a pretty interesting villain.

Well, it seems as though things are shaping up, casting-wise, although it doesn't look like the main villain has been announced yet.

Various sites are reporting that the long-rumoured (ho ho) Justin Long will play McClane's reluctant, smart-alec sidekick (does this sound familiar or what? ), while the gorgeous Maggie Q (one of the best things about MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III and doubtless destined to be one of the brightest spots in LAUGH OUT LOUD AND DIE, sorry, BORN FREE OR DIE HARD, erm, aw, heck, why didn't they just call it DIE HARD 4?) will essay the role of a baddie.

The IMDb - not always reliable, but probably fairly kosher on DIE HARD 4 at this stage of the game - has some technical credits, and they're not all that exciting. The deeply mediocre Marco Beltrami replaces the late Michael Kamen on score duties, while the director of photography is one Simon Duggan (I, ROBOT, UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION). Nicholas De Toth is the editor, and it seems he's the same guy who cut the appallingly-put-together THE SUM OF ALL FEARS and T3.

Right now, the most realistic thing to hope is that this film will be marginally better than xXx: STATE OF THE UNION.

[The Dove]

Yeah Loomis, I am going to miss the late great Michael Kamen's music for Die Hard 4.. but I am also eager to see what Marco Beltrami can bring to the table.. he did a decent job with Terminator 3, but I was SO disappointed that they didn't bring Brad Fidel back for that one..

[Roebuck]

Various sites are reporting that the long-rumoured (ho ho) Justin Long will play McClane's reluctant, smart-alec sidekick (does this sound familiar or what? ), while the gorgeous Maggie Q (one of the best things about MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III and doubtless destined to be one of the brightest spots in LAUGH OUT LOUD AND DIE, sorry, BORN FREE OR DIE HARD, erm, aw, heck, why didn't they just call it DIE HARD 4?) will essay the role of a baddie.

http://www.chud.com/...pe=news&id=7689

Nice to see an article acknowledge that Len Wiseman's films are pretty to look at (even if they're lacking in substance).

[Loomis]

Some potentially good news: one of the producers of LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD is none other than.... John McTiernan. An encouraging addition to a very unexciting behind-the-camera lineup, even though McT has been on extremely poor form for years, and even though he had no credited involvement whatsoever in DIE HARD 2, which still managed to be the best sequel in the series (as well as the closest in spirit to the original).

http://www.moviehole...e_hard_aga.html

Now, why is there still no news on the main villain? Is it possible that the filmmakers are indeed in down-to-the-wire negotiations with Adrien Brody or another big name? I do think Brody's extremely unlikely, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're trying to land today's Jeremy Irons, whoever he might be. Clive Owen, perhaps?

[Monkeyfoahead]

Die Hard- Die harder than you ever died before, wait die the hardest die harder die hard death known to man.

[dinovelvet]

This whole thing sounds awful. The casting of Justin Long is just the final nail in the coffin; not that I have anything against Justin Long personally, but the fact that there is even a character in this movie to be played by Justin Long just about says it all - they're trying to make the series appeal to teens. Yup we're old, but a lot of today's moviegoing audiences weren't even alive when the first Die Hard came out. Let's face it, Bruno hasn't been bringing in the box office lately, with duds like Hostage, 16 Blocks, The Whole Ten Yards(!!), and this seems like a "last ditch career revival" move just like his other Planet Hollywood alumni pulled, Ahnuld with T3 and Sly with Rocky Balboa.
No, nothing about this is exciting. Len Wiseman, purveyor of generic post-Matrix garbage - ugh. The prospect of Adrien Brody as the villain is moderately interesting, but I don't know why he'd do it. Maybe he has a couple of arthouse flicks lined up and wants a paycheck to see him through the year!

Oh and who wants to bet - PG13?

[Loomis]

Totally agreed with all that, dinovelvet, apart from on the Adrien Brody thing - it looks as though his involvement is just pure fan rumour.

I'm far, far too old to know who Justin Long is, but what depresses me is that the filmmakers seem to think that a DIE HARD movie isn't a DIE HARD movie unless Willis has A Sidekick™. I mean, why have two hours of intense action and suspense when you can have two hours of intense wisecracks, moderate action and minimal suspense?

In a further echo of the lacklustre WITH A VENGEANCE, Maggie Q sounds like a xerox of the Sam Phillips character in that film. And, while I haven't read the script, I expect that LOSE IT OR DIE HARD will be mostly set in daylight hours, which will further whittle away any tension (imagine a HALLOWEEN film taking place during the day).

For me, a DIE HARD film should be Bruce Willis, working alone and at night in a confined space, with heavy, bloody violence, and not this LETHAL WEAPON 3 sitcom buddy movie business.

Still, I guess I should give it a chance to be made and released before unleashing the fanboy rage, huh?

[killkenny kid]

[quote name='Loomis' date='24 September 2006 - 09:38' post='613107']

For me, a DIE HARD film should be Bruce Willis, working alone and at night in a confined space, with heavy, bloody violence, and not this LETHAL WEAPON 3 sitcom buddy movie business.

Indeed, brother.

[Harmsway]

For me, a DIE HARD film should be Bruce Willis, working alone and at night in a confined space, with heavy, bloody violence, and not this LETHAL WEAPON 3 sitcom buddy movie business.

Quite. That's the DIE HARD formula. That's what works. That's what I'd pay to see - this new concept holds no appeal for me at all.

[Double-Oh-Zero]

Well there are some things you can certainly predict in Die Hard 4...

- Some stressed out police chief at some point will say "McClane!! If you don't buck up, you're going to be back on traffic duty!"
- McClane will make cheesy references to the fact he always seems to get a ludicrously bad day at the office i.e. "How can the same happen to the same guy 4 times?" (Probably said to hmself as he crawls away from some gunfire) or "Relax, I've done this before" (To some cutie).
- Halfway through the film McClane will deduce right out of the blue that it's not about releasing Mark Chapman, but a robbery. And the chapman thing was a diversion.
- McClane's first big chat with the bad guy will be over walkie-talkie.

LOL!

- Someone, probably a senior cop, will make a dismissive reference to McClane being an alcoholic scruffbag.

- Followed, most likely, by a reference to how rubbish he is at keeping his marriage together.

- The notoriously technophobic McClane ("For me progress peaked with frozen pizza" - DIE HARD 2) will labour for hours trying to complete a would-be conciliatory e-mail to Holly, whom he hasn't seen in eight months following an argument over his refusal to take the trash out during The Contender, typing away at snail's pace with one finger, and he's finally figuring out how to send the thing when his computer crashes (the first sign of the terrorists' plot to crash America's systems).

- He ought to have dictated it to his son, who's a dab hand with computers. McClane, Jr. thinks his dad's a blowhard dinosaur with anger management issues, while McClane thinks his son's an undisciplined young punk. The film will end with them departing happily for a male bonding fishing trip, cracking jokes to each other.

- As the film progresses, McClane will somehow shed his clothing to the point where all he's wearing above the waist will be a white vest, which will mysteriously turn dark green by the very end.

- McClane will take on a hulking henchman with the aid of a chain and an endless barrage of pop culture-referencing wisecracks. Said henchman will later turn out not to have died.

- However, somewhere along the way, McClane will manage to kill a baddie in an incredibly elaborate, gory fashion (icicle-meets-eyeball in DIE HARD 2, goon cut in half in DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE).

- The supporting characters will include a bunch of immensely arrogant, stupid and annoying cops and FBI agents.

- While not exactly coming across as a Klansman, McClane will nonetheless display the sort of world view that would generally be described as "politically incorrect".

all very good predictions. A few more:

-at some point in the film, McClane will speak over the phone with his wife and lament about how they "could have made it work." Or she'll be taken hostage. Again.

-McClane will commandeer some sort of vehicle that he doesn't have the authority to drive, and proceed to nearly kill a few civilians

-some civilian will show up who just happens to hold a key to stopping the terrorists' plot (i.e janitor with walkie-talkie from DH2, construction worker who unknowingly solves one of the riddles in DHWAV)

-McClane tells the baddie/one of the arrogant FBI supporting characters where to shove it in front of higher authority

-the baddie ends up being another Gruber, either a brother, nephew, son or...oo-er...sister!

-finally, I'd be flabbergasted if he didn't make some sort of crack about getting too old for this sh**

I'm somewhat hesistant about this one. On one hand, I'm happy for Willis, as this will prolly open huge compared to some of his recent flicks, but a the same time, this may end up being as daft as the flag-wavingly smug title of Live Free or Die Hard. I hope that's just the working title. I would have preferred Die Hardest to that, actually.

Still, DHWAV was fun, even with all of it's faults. Whilst it was interesting to see McClane running around in his turf, the formula works better when he's in an unfamiliar place. It's because of this (McClane and technology; we know the story there, har har) that DH4--I refuse to call it by the other one--may work. I'll see who they officially cast as the villain before I make a decision; I'm not sure I buy Adrien Brody rumour. Although if they're going the route of Irons and Rickman, Giancarlo Giannini would make a cracking Eurotrash villain.

[dinovelvet]

For me, a DIE HARD film should be Bruce Willis, working alone and at night in a confined space, with heavy, bloody violence, and not this LETHAL WEAPON 3 sitcom buddy movie business.

Quite. That's the DIE HARD formula. That's what works. That's what I'd pay to see - this new concept holds no appeal for me at all.

Yeah but unfortunately other movies used up all the good Die Hard ideas in the gap between DH2 and 3 - Under Siege 1 and 2 used DH on a boat/train, and Passenger 57 used DH on a plane, so as is now Hollywood legend, while struggling for ideas for DH3, someone dusted off an old script called SIMON SAYS and rewrote it with John McClane as the protagonist, and turned the villain into Hans Gruber's brother, possibly in a desperate attempt to link it with the rest of the series. This new one sounds like an even more generic action thriller that's just using the Die Hard name to bring in the fans. Seems to me like 16 BLOCKS was more of a Die Hard movie than Die Hard 4 is going to be!
Personally, I'd much rather see THE LAST BOY SCOUT II

[Loomis]

Well, judging by pics from the set that are now up on AICN, McClane is back and this time he's.... completely bald. Which for some reason seems pretty cool (more so, at least, than making Willis wear a wig and pretend it's still the early '90s) and, along with the news that McTiernan is occupying one of the producers' chairs, a possible sign of quality.

Not since Martin Riggs lost his trademark mullet for LETHAL WEAPON 4 (arguably the best film of the LW franchise, although I concede that that's probably a minority view) has an action movie icon undergone such a bold transformation. Next they'll be, oh, I don't know, casting a short, blond guy as James Bond.

[The Dove]

Cool! thanks for the tip about the LFODH pics Loomis!. Bruce looks good.. i was worried about a bald McClane at first, but now i think this will work.. Take a look at how badly McClane's hair is receeding in Die Hard With a Vengeance.. this makes sense to me to have a bald John McClane.. he is older after all!

[Skudor]

I never realised that McClane's hair was this important to DH fans. Amazing.

[dinovelvet]

Well, judging by pics from the set that are now up on AICN, McClane is back and this time he's.... completely bald. Which for some reason seems pretty cool (more so, at least, than making Willis wear a wig and pretend it's still the early '90s) and, along with the news that McTiernan is occupying one of the producers' chairs, a possible sign of quality.

Not since Martin Riggs lost his trademark mullet for LETHAL WEAPON 4 (arguably the best film of the LW franchise, although I concede that that's probably a minority view) has an action movie icon undergone such a bold transformation. Next they'll be, oh, I don't know, casting a short, blond guy as James Bond.

Huh, not what I was expecting. I mean I guess it is logical that he would be bald by now, if this movie does take place 11 years after the last one, but on the other hand the bald look distances this movie from the other three and pushes it even further into "Generic Bruce Willis thriller that just happens to have the words Die and Hard in the title" territory. I mean he might as well be playing his character from Hostage.
And it looks like they're taking their cue from CR and have started filming without a major character (the villain) being cast!