Silke Jasso
Game over folks, the long-awaited answer is finally here. Is Die Hard a Christmas film? Well, Director John McTiernan is here to set the record straight, confirming that Die Hard is indeed a Christmas movie. In an impressive 12-minute long video posted by the American Film Institute, the 69-year-old filmmaker addressed the decade-long “controversy” of whether or not Die Hard actually serves as a Christmas movie.
Videos by Rare
For several years now, fans of the film have argued if the 1988 film should even be considered as a Christmas movie, given that it takes place during the holiday season, specifically on Christmas eve, and despite it being released to theaters during the summer. But, shutting all those negative rumors now, McTiernan noted that yes, the film is indeed a holiday film. He stated, “We hadn’t intended it to be a Christmas movie, but the joy that came from it is what turned it into a Christmas movie.”
Yes, “Die Hard” is a Christmas Movie!
Die Hard is based on the 1979 novel Nothing Last Forever by Roderick Thorps. It stars the wonderful Hollywood action star Bruce Willis as a New York City policeman who gets caught up in a messy terrorist attack while he visits his estranged wife at a Los Angeles skyscraper. In total, the action movie earned an approximate box office gross of between $81.3 million and $83 million. The action film also stars Alexander Godunov, Alan Rickman, and Bonnie Bedelia.
McTiernan also noted that the film is also a “terrorist movie,” saying, “It was really about the stern face of authority stepping in to put things right again.” He also explained how he and producer Joel Silver compared the film to the Pottersville sequence from the film It’s a Wonderful Life, which McTiernan describes as “the clearest demonstration and criticism of runaway unregulated war capitalism.”
“Die Hard” Trailer
The director also compared Die Hard to the current state of American politics now, adding that,” there are genuinely evil people out there.” He continued, “My hope at Christmas this year is that you will all remember that authoritarians are low-status, angry men who have gone to rich people and said, ‘If you give us power, we will make sure nobody takes your stuff.’ And their obsessions with guns and boots and uniforms and squad cars and all that stuff. And all those things you amass with power meant to scare us, meant to shut us up so we don’t kick them to the side of the road and decent people of the world get on with building a future.” There you have it, ho-ho-ho to all of you Die Hard fans! Forget Home Alone, now it’s all about Die Hard on Christmas morning. Just kidding, Santa, Home Alone will always be my favorite, but this comes close to it!
