Rewatchables Reference

• Bill: The opening – 'Summer in the City' playing over NYC shots, then Bonwit Teller explodes. Simon's voice, the Simon Says game begins.
• CR (winner): Every scene until the boat. 'The first 113 minutes of this movie are perfect.'
• Van: The race dynamics in the park scene – 'Say it.' 'What?' 'I was going to call you an asshole.'

Bill (winner): 'Summer in the City' by The Lovin' Spoonful over the opening NYC shots. 'An awesome swerve where you're like, oh, this would be nice... then Bonwit Teller explodes.'

• Van (winner): 'I fucking love a Black guy and a white guy working together.' The racial dynamics – Zeus starts with 'we don't need no help from white people' and the movie is about a racial reckoning where they help each other. Made during the OJ trial.
• CR: One of the great hangover movies. Willis with aspirin – 'couple of aspirin, but then his head's really hurting him.'
• Bill: Filming all over New York. The 'I think you better take this' phone call trope. Evil brothers seeking revenge.
• CR: Simon is hidden like the shark in 'Jaws' – shows up at minute 50. 'God damn, Jeremy Irons is blonde and he's killing people.'
• CR: Two storytelling mechanisms that have aged well – the ticking clock and the treasure hunt through NYC landmarks.

• Bill: Bonwit Teller exploding.
• CR: The opening sunrise shots of New York City. 'I'm now hot.'
• Van: The guy getting cut in half by the wire. 'That is when I realized, oh fuck, they say fuck it in this movie.'

• CR: The Apocalypse Now problem – the action in the first 60% is so good there's no way to have a finale that tops it. 'The first 113 minutes are perfect and you just can't top the subway car.'
• Bill: Why is Zeus involved in the last 40 minutes? He's a normal person – at some point it should be 'Thanks for everything, Zeus, go back to your store.'
• Van: Holly. 'Got sick of it. Stop bringing Holly back. He saved two different cities and Holly's still not fucking with him.'

• Bill: McClane mentioning his headache 42 times gets stale.
• CR: Explosions in the NYC financial district are touchy post-9/11. The movie released around the Oklahoma City bombing, so they had to do pre-emptive press.
• Van: McClane's policing style – 'if he thinks that, he just kills you.' Eastern European accent = dead.
• CR: The reputation of city services – in this movie firefighters, librarians, sanitation workers heroically search schools. 'Now everybody's like, who needs libraries?'
• Bill: The gold is way heavier than depicted. McTiernan acknowledged they would have needed 480 dump trucks.

• CR: Is it hot to say it's the best 'Die Hard' movie? Improved by not imperiling Holly. Van: 'I wanted to say it but I didn't have the nuts for it – this is my favorite one.' Bill: 'Everybody needs to calm down on that take.'
• Bill: They blew the Simon Says gimmick using it for this movie. It should have been its own franchise – either action or horror. 'It basically became Saw.'

• Sean Connery was first choice for Simon Gruber. He turned it down – didn't want to play a villain. Bill: 'I don't buy him as evil. Plus him trying to do a German accent.'
• Laurence Fishburne was considered for Zeus. Joel Silver would have gotten him, but Silver was off the project.
• Bill: Annabella Sciorra in the Colleen Camp role as McClane's post-divorce girlfriend, adding sexual tension and personal stakes.
• McTiernan turned down 'Batman' Forever to direct this.

• Bill: Walter Cobb (the police captain played by Larry Bryggman).
• Kevin Chamberlain as bomb expert Charles Weiss.
• Colleen Camp discussed but considered too recognizable.

• Bill: Annabella Sciorra in the Colleen Camp part as McClane's new love interest – makes the Holly phone calls land better.
• CR: Thinking about recasting city services – updating the civic infrastructure characters for modern times.

• Originally a standalone script called 'Simon Says' by Jonathan Hensleigh, meant for Brandon Lee (who died). Then considered for 'Lethal Weapon' before becoming 'Die Hard' 3.
• Joel Silver didn't produce due to falling out with Willis. Shane Black may have written it if Silver stayed.
• McTiernan acknowledged the gold logistics are impossible – 480 dump trucks needed. The Federal Reserve only held about $1.5B.
• The movie came out right around the Oklahoma City bombing; Willis's press tour had a 'no bombing questions' policy.

• Bruce Willis: Bill makes the case – 'Pulp Fiction' (1994) plus this leads to 12 Monkeys, Fifth Element, 'Armageddon', Sixth Sense. 'The number one call in '95.' Also the Demi Moore power couple era.
• Samuel L. Jackson: Somewhere in this mid-90s era. 'Pulp Fiction' no longer a fluke – he can carry a major movie. Maybe 'Star Wars' (1999) is the actual peak.
• Jeremy Irons: Probably winning the Oscar for Reversal of Fortune (1990). Or Merchant of Venice.
• Federal Reserve gold vault: 'Apex Mountain never discussed before – 100% for sure.'
• 'Die Hard' sequels: Yes, this is the best one.
• John McClane sidekicks: 'Bigger than Reginald VelJohnson. Bigger than Justin Long.'

Scorsese. Bill: 'City movie.' CR agrees – 'Marty.'

• CR: Simon Gruber.
• Bill: Also the weed cop, or the Graham Greene part (the Joe Lambert character).

• Bill: Everything after Yankee Stadium feels like they were just trying to figure out how to end the movie.
• Bill: Zeus leaves his store open for 15 hours and never once mentions it. 'We hear about Holly 45 times but never hear Zeus say, shit, I left my store open.'
• Bill: Zeus's store is open at 7:45 AM – 'everything being open at 7:45 in this neighborhood is a little dicey.'
• Van: The dump trucks going through the city unnoticed during an emergency.
• Bill: The headache references – 42 times is too many.

Bill: Simon Says as its own franchise – either horror (basically became Saw) or a Brandon Lee action franchise if he had lived.

• The water jug puzzle – CR still doesn't understand it after reading extensive explanations. Bill claims he can solve it, leading to the 'Bill Simmons Jug Challenge' pitch.
• Bill: 1994 was Apex Mountain for New York City – Rangers, Knicks, Mike and the Mad Dog, 'Die Hard' 3 filming in the city.

• Van: 'I don't want the blank sandwich board.'
• Bill: Pretty good artifact from the 90s but wouldn't want it either.

CR: The Ratzo Rizzo 'Most New York Quote' award – 'I'll make this very simple, 112 'Wall Street' or I'll have your medallion.' Also: 'They don't allow dump trucks on the FDR.'

• Bill: 'Die Hard' 1 right into 'Die Hard' 3 – skip 'Die Hard 2', which is in its own universe.
• Van: The Siege (another NYC terrorism movie with Bruce Willis, who starts off seeming like the hero).
• CR: 'Pulp Fiction'.

• Bill and CR: Samuel L. Jackson. 'Pulp Fiction is no longer a fluke. He can help carry a major movie, and now the rest of his career falls into place.'
• Van: Bruce Willis – 'It's just hard to beat the character of John McClane.'