Die Hard: The Ultimate Visual History
Die hard back Take off your shoes and socks, slip on a white vest and look back on the films that turned Bruce Willis into a bona fide action hero
A look back on the films that turned Bruce Willis into a bona fide action hero.
The release of Die Hard 30 years ago almost single-handedly reshaped the action film genre. And over the course of four sequels, the series has tapped into modern trends and events to keep the landscape in check. In the pages of Die Hard: The Ultimate Visual History, we learn how the seminal films came to be. In a refreshingly straight-talking foreword, filmmaker John McTiernan reveals the hoops he and the team had to jump through to get the first Die Hard on screen. It sets the tone for the following chapters, which reveal the creative journeys of each film with the help of photo inserts, storyboards, diagrams and replica script samples.
The bulk of the book is given over to Die Hard, following the movie’s evolution from the novel Nothing Lasts Forever through to the iconic action thriller. Shorter chapters are dedicated to these sequels, while a meagre section looking at the series beyond the big screen caps off the book.
With a John McClane flashback film reportedly in the works, this is the ideal way to immerse yourself in the world of the anti-authoritarian action hero. Yippee ki-yay IFXers!