A Good Day to Die Hard, the fifth instalment in the iconic Die Hard franchise, is still going strong at the box office, totalling more than $200m. around the world, and playing in the Top 10 at the US box office.
Though critics may not have been impressed by the sequel, audiences themselves nonetheless seem to be enjoying the Russia-set blockbuster, and Bruce Willis has confirmed that Die Hard 6 is on the way.
In an interview with Getty Images Entertainment to promote his upcoming film, Welcome to the Punch, Mark Strong has officially revealed that he was forced to turn down the opportunity to play the lead antagonist role in one of the Die Hard movies, despite getting the call from Willis, himself.
He wouldn’t specify which film, but it realistically would have most likely been for either Live Free or Die Hard (a.k.a. Die Hard 4.0) or A Good Day to Die Hard.
“The phone went… I picked it up, he said, ‘Hi, it’s Bruce… Bruce Willis!’
I didn’t believe it at first. I thought it was ridiculous. I wondered how he got my number for a start as I don’t know him.
But we had a chat, he said he had a script that he wanted to make, that he liked, and Fox had a script they liked and they were trying to make the two things into one and he was interested in meeting me so would I be interested… so I said yeah.
I told him to keep me up to date with it and then he called again and we had another chat about it but then it just got away from us and dates didn’t work and I’d committed to something else… so I couldn’t do it… but it’s an iconic role isn’t it, the villain in a Die Hard movie?”
So would he reconsider it if the offer popped up again?
Well, I’m always around so we’ll see…”
A Good Day to Die Hard is perhaps the most likely of the two, especially given how busy Strong has been in the past two years. Neither of the films have had British villains – though Strong has plenty of experience beyond his native accent – and it’s interesting to imagine whether the fifth movie, if indeed it was the fifth movie, would have been set somewhere in England rather than Moscow had Strong been able to come on board.
Like Strong says, the villain in a Die Hard movie is definitely an iconic role. Alan Rickman, Jeremy Irons, Timothy Olyphant – these are names and roles we all know and remember.
I have a lot of love for Strong, and love seeing him taking on the antagonist roles. He’ll next be seen in Welcome to the Punch (released in the UK on 15th March and the US on 27th March), with a slew of films, including Mindscape and Closer to the Moon, on his slate for the rest of the year.
And if all goes well, maybe we’ll get to see him opposite Bruce Willis in Die Hard 6.
Source: Many thanks to Getty Images Entertainment for letting us share the above interview.
