Here’s my conversation with Brian Abrams, author of the oral history of one of the great action movies, “Die Hard.” Among the questions I asked him:
- How was Bruce Willis cast as John McClane?
- Was it hard for him, as a TV star (“Moonlighting”) to get the lead in an action movie?
- Who else was up for the role?
- Is it true that John McClane died in the original book?
- Was that real fear on Alan Rickman’s face during his final fatal fall?
- What about the other villains, reporter Richard Thornburg and Deputy Police Chief Dwayne Robinson?
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Brian Abrams’ “Die Hard: An Oral History” is available from Amazon as a Kindle Single. Abrams also wrote oral histories of Gawker and “Late Night With David Letterman.”