Why Clint Eastwood refused to star in Die Hard

John McClane almost had a much more cowboy-esque look.

Crystal Trap will return this evening on W9, and 36 years later, one question remains: why Clint Eastwoodwho was offered the role of John McClane, turned down the role? A question to which the screenwriter Jeb Stuart gave some answers more than 30 years after its theatrical release, during an interview with /Movie recorded in March 2022. According to him, it is about humor.

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Indeed, referring to the producers of the film, Jeb Stuart explains that they “first went to Clint Eastwood. Ironically, his response to the producers was: 'I don't understand the humor.' Which, to me, was a shock because if you really listen to the dialogue, Eastwood is one of the few people who could have said a line like: 'Come to LA, have a good time.' That sort of thing. You could see him doing that. He was my inspiration.”

A response that surprises, as his own films are full of cleverly delivered punchlines. We can quote the sentence from In the line of sight (released in 1993): “You have a date with my ass, motherfucker” (“You have a date with my ass, yes!”). At the same time, we can also compare this refusal of the role of McClane to Eastwood's desire to adapt Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp, on which is based Die Hard. A project that never came to fruition.

Crystal Trap is directed by John McTiernan and carried by Bruce Willis. This is the first part of the saga Die Hard.

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