Die Hard 6/Die Hard: Year One always seemed like one of those bad ideas that would never really happen, if only because the last four or five Die Hard movies haven’t been all that great and the Die Hard name now elicits more of an “aw jeez, again?” than a “hell yeah, again!” reaction these days. And yet, Hollywood loves bad ideas as long as they seem like they’ll make money, so we heard last month that Live Free Or Die Hard director Len Wiseman wanted Die Hard 6 to jump back and forth in time to tell a story about young John McClane and old McClane (with only the latter played by Bruce Willis, we assume). This seemed silly, since the first movie’s story about a regular guy fighting back terrorists wouldn’t nearly be as thrilling if we knew he had fought back terrorists at least once before, but what do we know. Our paychecks aren’t dependent on making blockbuster movies.
Anyway, as bad as this idea seems, the project is apparently moving forward. It hasn’t moved forward much in the past month, but it does have a real title now that won’t make anyone think it’s based on an old Frank Miller comic. According to Deadline, Die Hard: Year One is now just McClane, which producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura says should be an indication that this movie will get audiences more invested in John McClane “than ever before.” He also reiterated that the movie will indeed follow both a twentysomething McClane and a 60-something McClane in parallel stories, so we’ll probably get some stupid, Solo-style explanation for the whole “yippe-ki-yay” line.
(We’re not here to give out free ideas, but the way to do it is to undercut it like Daniel Craig saying he doesn’t care how the bartender makes his martini in Casino Royale. Young McClane should either spend the whole movie trying out various catchphrases or resisting the urge to say a cool catchphrase right up until the perfect moment.)