MCCLANE AGAIN

THE LATEST WORD ON THE SIXTH DIE HARD

HE’S SAVED A skyscraper, used an icicle as a weapon, surfed a truck, killed a helicopter with a car, and did whatever the hell he did in

A Good Day To Die Hard — no way we’re rewatching it to check. In short, maverick cop John Mcclane is well deserving of a retirement in which he does nothing but sit back in an easy chair, watching repeats of The Roy Rogers Show. But that is not on the cards: another instalment of

Die Hard is in development, and even now jobbing actors are standing in front of mirrors, perfecting their most Gruberian sneer.

“We actually handed in a script to the studio about a week ago,” producer Lorenzo dibonaventura told Empire in early July, “and we’re waiting for them to respond. I think it’s really interesting and fresh. I did not want to get involved with Die Hard unless we were going to do something to reclaim it, frankly. You can tell our intention by the fact that the title page we handed in says, ‘MCCLANE’. We want you to get invested in John Mcclane more than ever before.”

Rumours have circulated that the project, previously known as Die Hard: Year One, will be a prequel, with minimal involvement from Bruce Willis. But di Bonaventura debunks this. “I don’t know how you do Die Hard without Bruce,” he says. “The idea that he’s not very significant in this movie is not accurate at all. We are gonna explore John Mcclane in his twenties. But just as prominent is the 60-year-old version. And he’s still a fly in the ointment.” No matter what his yippee-ki-age.