“Die Hard” is loaded to the gills with action, packed with memorable one-liners, and filled with moments that linger in the minds of movie fans everywhere. But is it a Christmas movie? It’s certainly set during the holiday season — smack in the middle of an office celebration for the occasion, which rapidly goes wrong for John McClane (Bruce Willis) and his wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia). A string of multicolored lights is used to tie up a criminal, “Let it Snow” plays over the closing credits — and those are just a few of the many details that seem to make “Die Hard” a Christmas movie.
While fans and critics continue to debate over whether or not the movie actually counts as a celebration of yuletide delight, two of its actors and two members of the shoot’s behind-the-scenes personnel have weighed in on the topic. Do the actors and crew think the movie’s a Christmas movie? Or is “Die Hard” just a film with plot elements that reference the merriest of seasons? Here’s what they’ve had to say on the topic over the years.
Bruce Willis said no
Bruce Willis became a major movie star thanks to “Die Hard,” but he only spoke up about the “is it a Christmas movie or not?” debate once. During Comedy Central’s “The Roast of Bruce Willis,” the actor included the following statement among his closing remarks (via YouTube): “I did this roast for one reason and for one reason only: to settle something once and for all. Now please listen very carefully: Die Hard is not a Christmas movie! It’s a goddamned Bruce Willis movie!”
Now, it’s worth noting that these comments were delivered in a joking manner, so it’s impossible to know if these are Willis’ actual feelings on the matter or if he was looking for a zingy way to end his speech. In any event, they remain his only entry into the debate — and with his retirement from acting due to the onset of frontotemporal dementia and its accompanying aphasia (the inability to verbalize clearly) in 2022, fans are unlikely to receive further word from him on the matter. Thus, his jocular comments may be taken at face value — and they exist as a strong opening salvo in favor of the ‘no’ camp.
Director John McTiernan has mixed opinions
John McTiernan — the director of “Die Hard” among many other action outings — has also weighed in on the topic, though his opinions have fluctuated over time. While he has admitted that he often has deliberately silly answers when this question is posed to him, he also thinks it’s not up to him to decide. “It’s not for us to say, it’s people. It’s for the audience to say. If the audience decides they want to make it a Christmas movie, it’s a Christmas movie. It turns out that way. It wasn’t intended as a Christmas movie, or the fact that it was deliberately built around Christmas, but not intended to be a Christmas movie,” he said during an appearance on The Empire Film Podcast.
He added that the only reason “Die Hard” got made — in spite of some politically charged commentary about war capitalism in its script — is because that commentary is couched in an action movie in which Christmas is a theme.
More recently, when challenged to defend the film’s status as a holiday movie by The American Film Institute, McTiernan said in part, “we hadn’t intended it to be a Christmas movie, but the joy that came from it is what turned it into a Christmas movie.” Which seems to settle the debate permanently. Or does it?
Co-writer Steven E. de Souza had an amusing take
Screwnwriter Steven E. de Souza, meanwhile, has responded to the debate with a healthy sense of humor. “Yes, because the studio rejected the Purim draft,” he said in an X (formerly known as Twitter) post. He even added the hashtag #DieHardisAChristmasMovie for good measure.
Later, he confirmed what we suspected about the movie all along and told The Deseret News that there’s no argument to be had on the topic. “This is not my opinion. ‘Die Hard’ is a Christmas movie,” he said. Then he recalled Joel Silver, a producer on the film, telling him that even if it failed, it would at least be a popular Christmastime rewatch in syndication. “Whether this movie is successful in movie theaters or not, we’ll always get a rerun check every Christmas because some TV station will run it. I had no idea how prophetic he was with those words,” he said.
Though de Souza would go on to write movies like “Commando,” “Die Hard” is still a beloved part of the cultural landscape — even when it’s not December.
Reginald VelJohnson thinks fans can believe what they like
Reginald VelJohnson — who played Officer Al Powell in the film — has a more laid-back approach to the question. “When I was filming the film ‘Die Hard,’ I didn’t even think about it being a Christmas movie. I knew that there was a Christmas theme that was going on in the movie but it wasn’t a major focus of the movie. And I never really realized that it was going to be a Christmas movie until the audience told me that it was,” he said to ComicBook.com.
The actor even admits that he nodded and smiled when fans asked if it was a holiday film — anything to get viewers in the theater. “When the audience said that it was a Christmas movie. I said, ‘Yes and hell yes, it’s a Christmas movie, whatever you want to do. As long as you see the movie, I’m fine with it.'” But, decades later, and with “Die Hard” firmly cemented in the cultural landscape as a yuletide flick, he has changed his tune. “I’m fine with it. They showed it every Christmas and that’s fine with me. I’m okay with it.”
Whether you watch “Die Hard” when there’s snow on the ground or you embrace the movie as a summer film — just as 20th Century Fox did when it released the movie on July 20, 1988 — it’s hard to deny that it’s one of the most important action films of the 1980s. Wrapped in tinsel and covered in bows or not.