Script writer hired for what sounds like a pretty cool new Die Hard

Hard to believe after the fifth installment, but Fox are looking to make a new Die Hard movie, but don’t click away just yet, it actually sounds really good…

Over at Whatculture, Ben Trebilcook has revealed that he has been hired by Fox to write the next movie and by jove we think he has a few nice ideas for the next movie. Well, let’s be honest, it can’t get much worse, can it?

“OK, without spoiling too much, I can say that McClane is invited to Tokyo by the Nakatomi Corporation to be commended for his bravery and efforts in saving 36 lives, celebrating this on the 30th anniversary of the Naktatomi Hostage Crisis. It’s by no means BLACK RAIN. Perhaps has a slight Rising Sun type tone. It’s also not a double-act buddy-buddy story. McClane began on his own and should end on his own. Of course he’s had assistance in various guises, aiding him in his ventures; but it’s not Lethal Weapon or a Jackie Chan film. McClane is a gunslinger. A now retired, worn-out, tired, busted and broken cowboy. Everything he’s been through has to be taken into account. Yes, it’s a movie, but he isn’t invincible. He was never Bond. That’s what was so appealing to me with Bruce’s character. He got hurt.

“I see the first one as a drama with elements of action. It took its time to set up the story and unfold great characters. I believe I got that and also what I call ‘the hose-reel moment’. You know, when McClane, in the first Die Hard leaped off the building with a fire hose, before it went kaboom; in the second, he ejects himself from the plane when he’s surrounded by grenades and in the third, he’s shot out the tunnel, through the air with a gush of water. I’ve got that ‘hose-reel moment’, as well as that cringing ‘glass pulling from the feet’ type scene. Man, that gets me every time. Pursued by bad guys; does he face them and die, or retreat, barefoot, across broken glass? THEN picks out itty bitty shards from his cut feet.”

He clearly has reverence for the first movie: “My story, being set in Japan, obviously has Nakatomi playing an extremely significant role; in a way that… well, it’s John McClane in Japan and if you’ve seen any Japanese movies or at least know anything about their culture at all, you know it would have a lot of potential to be nuts. It’s violent, but not over the top nor unnecessarily Loony Tune. It’s well researched, faithful to the franchise, yet giving a possible audience such a refreshing punch to the face, they’ll be saying ‘Wow. I really wasn’t expecting that.”

However, most interestingly of all, he plans to bring back an important character to John and a favourite with the fans: “Yes, I’ve written Zeus Carver in for Samuel L Jackson. Zeus played a major part in McClane’s life. They went through a lot together. They would certainly, without a doubt, still be in contact. A guy I know, Stel, wrote the 51st State (aka Formula 51) with Sam the Man. I put the idea to him and he said Sam would probably love to have a sword in a movie; that’s how you could woo him (he hints that Zeus will get to brandish a samurai sword). Let’s say I have A Better Tomorrow 2 vibe.”

He also, interestingly, spoke about the no longer going to happen Die Hard TV series he had in his head: “I had written a really cool proposal and 22 episodes for a Die Hard TV show called McClane … yeah that sounds a lot like 24. And they would’ve had to recast, which doesn’t sit quite right with me. Say what you will about the weaker Die Hards, but at least the character is truly 100% Bruce. I’d rather see him old and weathered than young, handsome, and cheap, so I’m glad Mr. Willis, as contemptful as he seems to be of his action oeuvre, is sticking with the role that made him an international superstar.”

So, is it possible? McClane as a lone gunslinger in Japan, the return of Zeus? Could this be a Die Hard to finally get excited for again? Let us know your thoughts in all the usual ways guys…