Like many, many others, I dedicate a few hours every December to spend time with Bruce Willis. Despite what the haters say, Die Hard is unquestionably a Christmas movie, and it never gets old spending the holiday annually watching John McClane navigate the upper floors of Nakatomi Plaza as he works to foil the plans of the nefarious Hans Gruber. The film features Willis at his “everyman” best, and the character is obviously a performance, it’s nonetheless comforting to know that it very much a reflection of who the actor is as a person.
Vanity Fair recently published a profile of Jerry Bruckheimer, and while the well-known super producer didn’t work with Bruce Willis on Die Hard (that was Joel Silver’s domain), he does recall his experience collaborating with the star on Michael Bay’s 1998 blockbuster Armageddon. Contrary to the cliched image of a Hollywood A-lister, the Willis described by the filmmaker was a dedicated worker on the set of the hit disaster movie, which echoed his blue collar past. Said Bruckheimer,
