Back when the fifth entry in theDie Hardseries,A Good Day to Die Hardwas in production, star Bruce Willis made it well known that he’d like to retire the John McClane character in a sixth and final film. Since thenLive Free or Die Harddirector Len Wiseman has signed on forDie Hard 6with screenwriting duo Chad and Carey Hayes (The Conjuring) penning the script. The film is set to be a prequel calledMcClanewhich would follow Willis' McClane character and his wife Holly in the 1970s, intermixed with their present-day counterparts. But now that Disney has taken control of all 20th Century Fox productions, do they still plan to bring McClane out to play one final time? Well, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers,Pet Sematary) doesn’t even know what’s going on at the moment. But that said, he did let us all know in a recent interview that Disney likes the current script. Specifically, Lorenzo di Bonaventura said regardingMClane:
“I don’t know what’s going to happen there. It’s really up to them because obviously now they’re owned byDisney. My sense is that we don’t know much about it for a while they debate whatever they’re debating. I don’t know enough about their plans really to have any point of view. They like our script.”
As a massive fan of the originalDie HardI’m on the fence regarding yet another entry. The most recent entry in the series wasA Good Day to Die Harddirected by John Moore (Behind Enemy Lines,The Omenremake). That movie was not good by any stretch of the imagination so I’m having a spot of trouble trying to find enthusiasm for another go with McClane and his family. But that said, I’m an eternal optimist when it comes to the franchise, so I’ll take the possibility of another ho-hum entry if it means taking the risk that we get something truly badass.
KeepMcClanerated R (I’m looking at youLive Free or Die Hard) and make sure to cast the young McClane right (I’m looking at you, Jai Courtney). I’m thinking - in keeping with John McClane’s everyman quality he sported in the original film - let’s go with someone like John Krasinski this time around. I know Krasinski has become an action star in his own right in recent fare such as Amazon’sJack Ryanseries, but let’s have him channel some of that good old Jim fromThe Officeeveryman charm and go from there. Sound good to everyone else? Sweet. Let’s move on.
To keep us all up to date, the last bits of news we’ve heard regarding thisDie Hardsequel/prequelMcClanewas that Tobey Maguire (yes, that Tobey Maguire) had joined the production team in late Summer 2018 and that Wiseman was still casting for a young version of John McClane. On top of that,Live Free or Die HardandA Good Day to Die Hardactress Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) said that she would be interested in returning as McClane and Holly’s daughter Lucy in a future installment. I guess we’ll have to see what shakes free on this newDie Hardmovie as time goes on. This update comes to us viaSlashFilm.
