Gives a whole new twist to “Welcome to the party, mate”, doesn’t it? Just kidding! I’m kidding, I’m kidding. I have argued that for years Die hard is not a Christmas movie, since most Christmas movies don’t usually have that much blood on the screen, I owe everyone the chance to see this rebuttal from director John McTiernan. He had no intention of making a Christmas movie, McTiernan explains in this lengthy monologue for the American Film Institute. He wanted to make an anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian movie that was just drenched in the Christmas spirit, or something.
I admit I’m wrong (via the Daily Wire):
McTiernan initially refused to do the job after seeing the ‘authoritarian’ response to the leftist terrorists in the source novel, Nothing lasts forever. Only after changes were made – in part by turning the leftist “terrorists” into capitalist thieves – did McTiernan sign on to the project:
“Joel Silver sent me the script three, four times. And it was about these horrible leftist terrorists getting into capitalism’s kind of mecca, Los Angeles, and they bring their guns and their bad manners and they shoot people who just celebrate Christmas, horrible people, horrible. And it was really about the stern face of authority coming in to put things right again, you know? And I kept saying to Joel: I don’t want to make that, ”he said.
McTiernan said he used “It’s A Wonderful Life” as an inspiration for the direction he wanted to take with the film, especially the criticism of untethered capitalism.
‘I went to Joel. And I said, ‘Okay, if you want me to make this terrorist movie, I want to make sure the hero in the first scene is when the limo driver apologizes that he’s never been in a limo,’ he said. ‘The hero says it is good. I’ve never driven a limo before. Okay, working class hero. “
And Joel understood what I meant. And he said ok. And so we started working on it, ”he continued. And in fact, when they came to work on the movie, as I said, everyone started getting this idea of this movie as an escapee. And there was a joy in it. Because we were, we changed the content. And so ‘Die Hard’ became, we didn’t intend it to be a Christmas movie, but the joy that came out of it turned it into a Christmas movie. And that’s really the best I can tell you about it. “
There is not much doubt about that element It’s a wonderful life, although there is at least some balancing element in the savings and loans of the Baileys and Bedford Falls shopkeepers. There really isn’t much balance in McTiernan’s interpretation Die hard. Even Takagi comes across badly to the point where Hans Gruber ruins his suit.
As for the argument that McTiernan is only against “untethered capitalism” … meh. There is no such thing as “untethered capitalism,” except in Ayn Rand’s novels, and then only in Galt Gulch. Perhaps the closest we get to untethered capitalism is in Hollywood itself looooooooves to lecture on the evils of capitalism as the stars bring down $ 20 million per photo, and their executives teaming up with totalitarian communist regimes to take their photos.
But fair is fair. It’s McTiernan’s movie, and he says Die hard is indeed a Christmas movie. If you want his thoughts on Donald Trump, stick around 8 minutes, but they are just as surprising as his Hollywood take on ‘untethered capitalism’. However, if AFI wants to do a public service, they might be able to ask McTiernan to explain what the hell Basic was approx.