“Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring — except for the four assholes coming in the rear in standard two-by-two cover formation.”
There are many reasons to be jolly over the holiday season, but one of my favorites is an excuse to revisit the adventures of John McClane, as he struggles to retake Nakatomi Plaza from sinister Eurotrash terrorists. Sadly, (with the possible exception of Die Hard With A Vengeance), the rest of the series doesn’t quite live up to the original, and the last entry, the Russia-set A Good Day to Die Hard, was just straight up terrible. But perhaps the upcoming prequel, McClane, could breathe some new life into the franchise.
Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventure was interviewed by /Film recently and he spoke about what he’d like to see from the project. More specifically, he was asked if director Len Wiseman was targeting an R-rating, and here’s what he said:
“I hope so. Look, I’m not in charge of that. Would I prefer it? Absolutely.”
He was also asked to comment on the film’s structure. As we understand it, the plan is for the movie to open on the 60-year-old John McClane working on a case that connects to his days as a rookie cop. The film will then flashback (presumably to the 1970s or early 80s) to show him as a younger man investigating it (and likely getting into some hi-octane scrapes). This kinda sounds like Willis won’t be in the movie much, but di Bonaventure isn’t ruling it out.
“I don’t know how you do Die Hard without Bruce. The idea that he’s not very significant in this movie is not accurate at all. We are gonna explore John McClane in his twenties. But just as prominent is the 60-year-old version. … Part of what McClane is is to get to know the mythology before the movies started. So that’s where we’re going to meet characters that we may know from before.”
The burning question behind all this is, of course, who will be cast as the young McClane? Bruce Willis leaves some mighty big boots to fill, so whoever takes up the mantle had better be a literal mountain of charisma. Then there’s the worry that audiences simply don’t want to see another actor in the part, and that John McClane played by someone other than Bruce Willis is just another action-hero cop.
On that note, here’s what Len Wisemen had to say about their casting process:
“It has to be somebody that has the swagger and the confidence, but also the charm, the wit, the charisma and the toughness. It’s asking a lot, especially in somebody that’s younger. It has to feel like the guy owns it, rather than is trying to put it on.”
It’s as yet unknown when full production will begin on McClane. The rights are currently caught up in the Disney/Fox merger, so presumably, they’re waiting on the dust to settle on that deal before moving forwards. In the meantime, though, tell us, have you guys got any casting suggestions as to who could play a young McClane? Be sure to let us know in the usual place below.
