Bruce Willis might have displayed more acting range than people would have expected throughout his many films, but he’ll always be best remembered by audiences as John McClane, the tough-as-nails cop who is the protagonist of the Die Hard series. Not only is this year the twenty-fifth anniversary of the original Die Hard, the fifth film in the franchise, A Good Day to Die Hard, will be released this week. Willis spoke to the New York Post about why he keeps returning to the character and what makes a good action movie.
On why Willis keeps coming back to McClane, he explains, “There is something that comes out of having the opportunity to do five films about the same character. And trying to not repeat yourself, and still be funny and still keep the character strong. I was only competing with myself. I was only trying to do better than I did and to be more honest or funnier.”
Willis remains one of the top action heroes in film history, so he has an insight on what makes an action movie great. He points out, “Action is comprised of a lot of things: fire and car crashes and peril of death — that you are going to jump out of this window and you are going to live somehow. But some of the best action I’ve done in these films is when I don’t speak. I am just looking at somebody, trying to figure something out. It’s just as much of that as it is talking or shooting guns.”
