Len Wiseman explains why he’s interested in Die Hard: Year One

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The DIE HARD franchise needs to go away for awhile… or maybe, forever… I don’t exactly know.

However, what I do know is that with each new chapter added to the series, each new half-assed story they attempt to tell, our memories of what was once a great action hero – John McClane – are diminished more and more. They’ll never be able to take the amazingness of the original DIE HARD (arguably the best action movie of all-time) away from us… but for some reason, they insist on pushing us to the point of wishing they would take John McClane far, far away, to somewhere we never have to see him again.

The last couple of DIE HARD sequels have been atrocious. They resemble very little of what made the franchise once great, and it seems like everyone involved in keeping this brand alive, from Bruce Willis to 20th Century Fox, has lost their way on what DIE HARD is all about. And with DIE HARD: YEAR ONE in the works, it doesn’t appear they’re about to get their groove back anytime soon.

Speaking to Collider recently, Len Wiseman was asked about YEAR ONE, and he offered up some insight on what made this new story interesting for him to explore.

After doing the fourth one, there were so many conversations that Bruce [Willis] and I were having about what he put into the character for Die Hard 1. That character comes in with so much baggage, emotionally, and experience. He’s already divorced, he’s bitter, his Captain hates him and doesn’t want him back. So, what created that guy?

We’ve never seen the actual love story. We know its demise, but we’ve never seen what it was like when he met Holly, or when he was a beat cop in ‘78 in New York when there was no chance of him making detective. It’s always been something I’ve been thinking about, and now we’re doing it. And it ties in.

Yeah… they’re going there.

They are going to go out of their way to try to explain why John McClane is the way he is, because apparently “that’s the way he was born” isn’t good enough.

When has this approach ever really worked out or told a good tale? Did it work when they tried to explain away Michael Myers or Hannibal Lecter or any other characters they were so desperate not to let go off? This has bad idea written all over it.