It looks like John McClane will DIE HARDEST in Japan

John McClane has been having a bad day since 1988, and his audience has been sharing in that pain for the last two film sequels. Lets be honest here, Die Hard 4.0 and A good day to Die Hard aren’t the best examples of dealing with foreign threats to the land of the free and the brave.

Could the sixth time be the charm for McClane and friends?

WhatCulture has a great interview with Ben Treblicook that I suggest you go read. “Who’s Ben Treblicook?,” I hear you ask. Well, he’s the movie industry veteran that was tapped to write the next Die Hard movie, Die Hardest. No, that title is not a joke. Treblicook spills on his very interesting career (including coming close to writing Die Hard several times and suing Tomb Raider’s creators for stealing his ideas on a “female Indiana Jones”) and also the sprawling story of how he became involved with the adventures of Detective John McClane.

As for story beats, Treblicook says that this tale of McClane will find him having a very bad day in the land of the rising sun, Japan. ” I can say that McClane is invited to Tokyo by the Nakatomi Corporation to be commended for his bravery and efforts in saving 36 lives, celebrating this on the 30th anniversary of the Naktatomi Hostage Crisis,” Treblicook said.

McClane is a gunslinger. A now retired, worn-out, tired, busted and broken cowboy. Everything he’s been through has to be taken into account. Yes, it’s a movie, but he isn’t invincible. He was never Bond. That’s what was so appealing to me with Bruce’s character. He got hurt. I see the first one as a drama with elements of action. It took its time to set up the story and unfold great characters.

My story, being set in Japan, obviously has Nakatomi playing an extremely significant role; in a way that.. well, it’s John McClane in Japan and if you’ve seen any Japanese movies or at least know anything about their culture at all, you know it would have a lot of potential to be nuts. It’s not Ichi The Killer, but it is crazy and as real as you can get in these realms.

It’s violent, but not over the top nor unnecessarily Loony Tune like Olympus. It’s well researched, faithful to the franchise, yet giving a possible audience such a refreshing punch to the face, they’ll be saying ‘Wow. I really wasn’t expecting that.’ You want a nugget, don’t you? I’m pretty sure it’s out there. A few Japanese fans on Twitter put two and two together when I uploaded a picture of a Katana (Samurai Sword) with some kanji reading ‘Zeus’. Yes, I’ve written Zeus Carver in for Samuel L Jackson.

Like I said before, it’s not a buddy-buddy script, but you can’t ignore him. Zeus played a major part in McClane’s life. They went through a lot together. They would certainly, without a doubt, still be in contact.

That actually doesn’t sound bad, but then again, neither did the plot for Die Hard 4 or 5. The real challenge here though, is to get someone who can give the franchise the proper direction that it deserves, while remaining gritty and properly showcasing that lingering streak of insanity that McClane has, which helps him survive insurmountable odds and bullets.

There’s a ton more interesting information in that interview that is worth checking out, including Treblicook writing this script as the final Die Hard adventure.

Yippee Ki Yay Kisama.

 

Last Updated: November 22, 2013