Bruce Willis initially refused to say one of his funny lines in Die Hard 2

For Christmas 2024, Netflix offered the latest in a seemingly endless series of terrible action movies that were ultimately destined to become the digital equivalent of fossils buried in the streaming giant's servers. “Carry On” is an action thriller set at LAX where Taron Egerton's TSA officer must foil a plot to release a deadly nerve agent on a plane. In other words, it was a Christmas action movie set entirely in an airport, and so it was inevitably indebted to “Die Hard 2”.

This particular action sequel has a bit of a weird legacy that goes beyond influencing the average Netflix movie. Although the 1988 original is located almost every one from the top Rating of “Die Hard” movies1990's “Die Hard 2” is definitely a contender for second best. The legacy sequels removed themselves from the conversation, turning Bruce Willis' John McClane into another generic action superhero archetype, trailing only “Die Hard 2” and the 1995 trilogy, “Die Hard With a Vengeance.” But if you go by what critics said when “Die Hard 2” came out, you could put it behind “Revenge.” According to many reviewers, the sequel tried too hard to imitate its predecessor, rehashing the same setting, tone and story beats while failing to do anything original.

Even its star seems to agree. Posting on the AICN Forums in 2007 (via Rotten tomatoes) Willis revealed that Die Hard 2 was his “least favorite and least fun” of all the films in the franchise. Why? The star seemed to think the film's critics basically got it, with Willis parroting that the most common criticism of the film was “too precious”. He also felt that the story was “all over the place and suffered from severe claustrophobia”.

But it seems like there might be another big reason Willis doesn't like Die Hard 2, and it has to do with a major disagreement over how John McClane should have been cast.

Die Hard 2 sees John McClane, now an LAPD lieutenant, take on a whole new gang of terrorists while trapped in Washington DC's Dulles Airport. To be fair to the critics, the film is very much the first film, just in an airport setting instead of a skyscraper. But “Die Hard” was awesome, so in a way you have to wonder what's so wrong with more of the same? However, it was completely the wrong way for Bruce Willis to approach the sequel, at least according to Rennie Harlin.

In 2022, the director spoke with empire about making Die Hard 2, at one point revealing that Willis came into the project with ambitions to make McClane a more grounded character. As Harlin explained, Willis had gone from “a TV star to a movie star overnight” thanks to the success of the original Die Hard, and the rapid transformation seemed to give the actor a sense of ownership over his character. Harlin claimed that Willis “had this idea from the beginning that he wanted to play John McClane completely straight now, that this movie had to be serious”. Of course, no one watches “Die Hard” for its naturalism, a point Harlin apparently understood better than his co-star. The director continued:

“I told him, 'This is not the John McClain that the public loves. They feel like you are their friend now and they don't want to lose their friend. We had a big disagreement about that. He said: “Those unequivocal comments – that's bullshit, you can't say that.” I said, 'Yeah, not in real life, but this is a movie Die Hard.''

The disagreement led to a meeting between Willis, Harlin and producer Joel Silver, where the trio decided that Willis could repeat the lines as many times as he liked. But he should also give Harlin at least one humorous take on the material. “He did it reluctantly and not so happily,” said the director, who took advantage of every light moment he could in the final cut. This constant clash between director and actor led to one particular moment when Willis almost got away with one of Die Hard 2's best lines.

Bruce Willis wasn't the only one who wasn't sure about the content of his “Die Hard” sequel. 20th Century Fox (now followed by 20th Century Studios Disney acquired Fox in 2019) initially wanted to replace the big passenger plane crash in “Die Hard 2” with a UPS plane crashpre-test audiences pushed them away from the idea. Unfortunately for Renny Harlin, nothing seems to sway Willis from his belief in a more grounded John McClain. Asked to recall one particularly difficult moment from the set of Die Hard 2, Harlin revealed that Bruce Willis almost got away without saying one of the film's best lines. This happens when McClane asks an airline representative to use her fax machine, but the woman suggests meeting after her shift. John then flashes his wedding ring and says, “Just a fax, ma'am. Just a fax.”

According to Harlin, shooting the shot was “just painful” because Willis seems to have been particularly stubborn about his more serious attitude toward McClain:

“Bruce hated it (the line). He said, 'It's so dumb and stupid.' I refuse to say that. It took an hour there at the counter of me begging him and Joel (Silver) stepping in to say it one out of 15 times, but it's in the movie and people love it.

Harlin also explained that the line was more than just keeping McClane's humor from “Die Hard,” noting how it “shows that he cares about his wife. It makes him a friendly and really respectable guy.” There's no doubt that McClane's charisma and his everyman appeal were crucial to the success of those early Die Hard films, and it certainly seems strange that Willis would want to diminish that for the film. But honestly, that's just Harlin's recollection of the shoot, and not only does it detract from the quality of “Die Hard 2,” but Willis hasn't really spoken out about it either. Anyway, Harlin won in the end. The 1990 sequel restored the tone of the original and, despite critics, remains one of the best in the series, even as it inspired an endless stream of streaming imitations for decades to come.