|
|
Willis to "Die Hard" for $25 Million
by Ken Neville
June 5, 1997, 6 p.m. PT
While Hollywood buzzed over a printed report that Bruce Willis will pull down a record $25 million payday to make Die Hard 4, executives at Twentieth Century Fox were busy scuttling the rumor "There is no deal set for Die Hard 4," says Jeffrey Godsick, Fox's senior vice president of publicity. "We've been in discussions [to make a sequel] ever since Die Hard 3, but money has not even entered the discussion yet." The word from Willis' camp is a predictable "no comment."
A $25-million deal would be staggering, even by Hollywood's bloated salary standards, and would likely send $20 million men Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, John Travolta, Jim Carrey and Willis' Planet Hollywood co-owners and pals Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sly Stallone scurrying to catch up to the one-time New York barkeep and Moonlighting costar.
The rumor mill kicked into overdrive this morning when nationally syndicated gossip columnist Liz Smith cited "Hollywood insiders" in claiming that Fox executives had been waiting to see how Willis' The Fifth Element fared before signing him to Die Hard 4. The Luc Besson-directed Element nailed down more than $50 million in its first 24 days domestically and has also done well internationally. That is apparently well enough, in producers' minds, to merit the $25 mil. It was less than 10 years ago that Hollywood jaws dropped when Willis signed for $5 million to make Die Hard. That film and its two sequels combined to earn more than $700 million worldwide Word on the street is that the film will be set in the jungle and be based on a script called Tears of the Sun written by Chris Gerolmo, who wrote and directed the 1995 HBO flick Citizen X. Fox's reaction to the jungle story? "We haven't even locked down what the movie is going to be," Godsick says. "Someone called and said they heard Die Hard 4 is underwater. It's really weird how all this stuff happens."
Willis says "Die Hard 4" will be his kiss-off to the genre that made him a megabuck superstar a decade ago. "I'm looking forward to it because it's a whole different take not only on action movies but on the `Die Hard' series itself," he insists. Willis' John McClane will find himself in the middle of the jungle when he notices the tell-tale signals of terrorists at work. "It's all low-tech," he promises. "There are no guns, but it still turns on the `Die Hard' theme of an ordinary guy caught in extraordinary circumstances." (WHAT NO GUNS??? HOW CAN IT BE A DIEHARD MOVIE???)
AUGUST 23rd: Someone e-mailed me and let me know that in an article in an issue of Playboy a few months back that Bruce said DH4 would center around him and a few cop buddies being taken into the jungle and having to find their way out. A low key movie (in terms of pyrotechnics and explosions). And even more exciting news, we found somebody who actually reads the articles in playboy.JUNE 21st, 1998: Bruce reported on "Access Hollywood" that DH4 is in the scripting stage. He also was reported to have said that he would like Ben Affleck to co-star in it.
JANUARY 12th, 1998: Nothing has been officially released, these are just rumors. DIE HARD 4 will supposedly be based on a book called "Tears of the Sun." It is about a husband and wife who's plane crash lands in the amazon and they get involved with some drug runners or something to that effect. Michael Bay (Bad Boys, The Rock) might direct it. I heard Bruce has already signed and will get $24 million for it. I haven't heard anything about a planned release date.
It must cost a lot of money to pay to get your wife's head shaved. Plans are now well advanced for the fourth Die Hard movie, which apparently will have an Amazon setting. It also seems a fair guess that a lot of things will explode and Bruce Willis will expose the upper half of his body frequently.
One of the important questions about Die Hard is why the complete box set (attractively pictured here) has never been released in Australia. However, the most important question is this: how do they cap the titles so far (Die Hard, Die Harder and Die Hard With A Vengeance) with an even groover extension of the 'hard death' concept? The Gusworld editorial team contemplated this question recently, and these are our suggestions (in alphabetical order). We'd welcome further entries.
|
|
