Bruce Willis was reluctant to add humor in Die Hard 2

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Talk about the ghost of Christmas past! In the latest issue of Empire Magazine, director Renny Harlin brought up a slight difference of opinion he and Bruce Willis had while shooting Die Hard 2. Apparently, Mr. Willis thought the dire circumstances surrounding terrorists at an airport left little room for jokey one-liners and wanted to play John McClane more serious. Here's what Harlin said:

"So Bruce had this notion from the beginning that he wanted to now play John McClane totally striaght, that this movie had to be serious. I said to him, 'That's not the John McClane the audience loves. They feel like you're their friend now, and they don't want to lose their friend.' Harlin went on to say: "The outcome was that Bruce agreed to do as many takes as he wanted of the way he wanted to do it and then we'd do one take the way I wanted to do it, with humor. He did it reluctantly, and not so happily, but he did it. And in the end, every single funny moment that could be caught was cut into the movie."

I can see why Willis wanted to play the character a bit more true to life, but again, his John McClane had a nice balance of humor and seriousness in the first Die Hard, so why would he change for the next one? Regardless, the first two Die Hards are Christmas classics and the holidays are better each year because of them! What do you think? Who's right? Willis or Harlin? And what do you think of Die Hard 2: Die Harder? As good as the original, better or nowhere near as good? Let us know your yippie ki-yay mother f*cking comments below!