The success of Die Hard 2 proved that a sequel could be made with essentially the same premise as the original film, and audiences would still show up. Die Hard 2 significantly outgrossed the original movie, which remains a classic of the action genre and one of the most memorable hits of the 1980s. The sequel was directed by Renny Harlin, who took over from the original film’s John McTiernan. On the latest episode of his podcast, Harlin recalled working with Bruce Willis on Die Hard 2, and told a story about how they resolved a major creative conflict. Harlin said that Willis absolutely refused to lean into John McClane’s humor, a creative decision that Harlin simply couldn’t agree with.

“You know, those quips, and funny lines, and smirks that I did in Die Hard. That’s bulls**t. I’m just going to play it straight,” Willis told Harlin, who responded, “But Bruce, why do you think there is Die Hard 2? It’s because people loved your character, John McClane. Who is he? He is a blue-collar cop with a sarcastic sense of humor, and that’s the character. It doesn’t matter if we’re blowing up a building or an airport. It’s about him, and his relationship with his wife, and his attitude toward authority.” Willis wouldn’t budge, and Harlin recalled feeling “powerless.” To get them out of this mess, the director turned to producer Joel Silver for support. The two met with Willis and had a long discussion about how to proceed, and came up with a solution.

Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz
Which Action Hero Would Be
Your Perfect Partner?
Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt

Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.

🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt

FIND YOUR PARTNER →

01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner?
The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.

ASomeone who already has three contingency plans running and is calmly working through all of them.
BSomeone who reads the terrain instinctively and knows exactly how to use it against the enemy.
CSomeone who keeps their nerve and their sense of humour when everything is falling apart.
DSomeone who knows the history of wherever we are and what we’re walking into.
ESomeone with the right contact, the right cover identity, and the right exit already arranged.

NEXT QUESTION →

02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel?
How you get there is half the mission.

AOn foot through terrain no one else would attempt — I move where vehicles can’t follow.
BOn a motorcycle, a cargo plane, or anything else that gets me there before I think too hard about it.
CIn something that belongs to someone else — borrowed, stolen, or improvised under fire.
DFirst class, with a cover identity and a gadget that does something I won’t explain until it’s needed.
EBy whatever means are available — I’ve driven, flown, and once arrived by camel. The destination matters, not the method.

NEXT QUESTION →

03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do?
This is when you find out what someone is really made of.

ADisappears into the environment, flanks them silently, and ends it before I’ve reloaded.
BCracks a one-liner, grabs a fire extinguisher or a chair, and improvises something that somehow works.
CProduces a gadget specifically designed for this exact scenario and uses it with infuriating precision.
DPulls out a whip, a pistol, and an archaeological insight that somehow gets us out alive.
ENeutralises the threat with maximum efficiency and minimum words — they were already three moves ahead.

NEXT QUESTION →

04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest?
Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.

AA bar with terrible lighting, cold beer, and absolutely no questions about feelings.
BThe finest restaurant in the city, a bottle of something expensive, and a conversation that is equal parts brilliant and exhausting.
CA local dig site, a museum after hours, or a long story about why that particular artefact matters to human civilisation.
DPizza. Bad TV. Falling asleep halfway through a movie neither of you were watching anyway.
EA debrief that turns into three hours of contingency planning that somehow becomes the most fun you’ve had all week.

NEXT QUESTION →

05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission?
Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.

APrecise and minimal — tell me what I need to know and nothing else. Every word has a cost.
BDeadpan and dry — keeping it light keeps me sharp, even when everything is on fire.
CEnthusiastic and slightly chaotic — but always with useful information buried somewhere in the noise.
DCalm and controlled through an earpiece, with a plan that covers every variable I haven’t thought of yet.
EBarely at all — silence is a language and they speak it fluently.

NEXT QUESTION →

06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them?
The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.

AInfiltrate their inner circle, learn everything, and dismantle them from inside out before they know we’re there.
BStudy the historical pattern — every villain of this type has a weakness written somewhere in the past.
CGet them talking. The more they monologue, the more time I have to figure out how to beat them.
DGo through them. Directly. With as much force as the terrain allows.
EFind the one thing they haven’t accounted for — there’s always one thing — and make sure we’re holding it.

NEXT QUESTION →

07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do?
Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.

ACome in alone, quietly, and get me out before anyone knows they were there.
BHave already been working on the extraction since the moment I disappeared — the plan is already running.
CCome in loud, come in fast, and worry about the collateral damage later — I’d do the same for them.
DUse every resource, every contact, and bend every rule until I’m out — they don’t leave people behind.
ECharm their way in somehow, bluff through the hard part, and still manage to look good doing it.

NEXT QUESTION →

08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace?
A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.

ATechnology that shouldn’t exist yet and the training to use it under any conditions.
BSurvival instinct so refined it borders on supernatural — and the scars to prove it’s been tested.
CKnowledge of history, language, and culture that makes them invaluable in places where force is useless.
DThe ability to walk into any room in the world and immediately become the most trusted person in it.
EStubbornness that refuses to accept a situation is hopeless — and the improvisational skill to back it up.

NEXT QUESTION →

09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with?
No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.

AA partner who never fully switches off — always watching exits, always calculating threats, even at dinner.
BA partner who gets the job done brilliantly but has the emotional availability of a locked filing cabinet.
CA partner who makes everything ten times more complicated than it needs to be — but who always comes through.
DA partner who gets personally attached to every relic, ruin, and artefact we encounter, which slows everything down.
EA partner who was not built for this and knows it — but shows up anyway, every time, without being asked.

NEXT QUESTION →

10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now?
The last question is the most honest one.

AOne line. Absolutely dry. Delivered like the world isn’t ending. Then we move.
BNothing said at all — just a look that means we both already know what has to happen.
CA plan I don’t fully understand that somehow accounts for everything, delivered in thirty seconds flat.
DA piece of historical context that reframes the entire situation and tells us exactly what to do next.
ESomeone who steps forward instead of back — because that’s who they’ve always been.

REVEAL MY PARTNER →

Your Partner Has Been Assigned
Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.

Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.

James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.

Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.

John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.

Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

Renny Harlin and Bruce Willis Struck a Truce

Harlin continued, “The result of that meeting was that we agreed to do as many takes as he wanted his way, but then one take my way. That’s how we shot the whole movie: eight serious takes and one funny take.” Every single moment of levity that Willis expressed, be it a slight smirk or even the glimmer of a smile, ended up in the movie. When Harlin screened his rough cut for the studio’s top brass, he was given positive feedback, especially for the film’s humor. When the studio boss asked him if he could add more jokes, Harlin said that he’d used them all up. The filmmaker stressed that he wasn’t telling the story to demean Willis, but he was just expressing the importance of going with your gut. Die Hard 2 was a massive hit, grossing $240 million worldwide against a reported budget of $70 million. Three more sequels followed, with the latest —A Good Day to Die Hard — releasing in 2013 to poor reviews and mediocre box-office response.

Willis, of course, has been dealing with a grave illness in recent years and has retired from public life. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Release Date

July 3, 1990

Runtime

124 minutes

Director

Renny Harlin