John McClane

Detective Lieutenant John McClane
Bruce Willis as John McClane in Live Free or Die Hard.
First appearance	Die Hard
Portrayed by	Bruce Willis
Voiced by	Eric Allen Baker (Trilogy) Michael Blanchard (Vendetta, Nakatomi Plaza) Jamey Scott (Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas) Dave Wittenberg (Vendetta, Nakatomi Plaza)
Information
Aliases	Cowboy Roy Billy
Gender	Male
Occupation	Police officer / Detective
Title	Detective Lieutenant
Spouse(s)	Holly M. Gennaro McClane (divorced, 1980-1995)
Children	John "Jack" McClane, Jr. Lucy McClane

John McClane is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Die Hard film series, portrayed by Bruce Willis.

Development and description

John McClane was originally based on the fictional character Detective Joe Leland from Roderick Thorp's novel, Nothing Lasts Forever, along with another character, Frank Malone from Walter Wager's novel 58 Minutes (later adapted as Die Hard 2) and is somewhat based on and inspired by Dirty Harry. Die Hard villain Hans Gruber describes him as "just another American... who thinks he's John Wayne,"^[1] to which McClane replies that he "was always partial to Roy Rogers."^[2] He is described as being a foul-mouthed, wisecracking, no-nonsense New York cop with an itchy trigger finger and a never-say-die maverick spirit.^[3]

McClane's marriage is in a constant state of crisis, his vigilantism and disregard for authority have put him in danger of losing his job more than once, and he is a chain-smoker who is described as "two steps away from becoming a full blown alcoholic", which McClane jokingly upgrades to only "one step".^[4]

The trailer for the first Die Hard film states, "The last thing McClane wants is to be a hero, but he doesn't have a choice." In the second film, he is told "You're the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time", to which he replies, "The story of my life." In the fourth film, he says he gets involved in dangerous situations "because there is nobody else to do it."^[5]

Depiction

In Die Hard (1988), John McClane is an Irish American detective with the New York City Police Department and has been an officer for 11 years. At the beginning of the first film, he is recently separated from his wife, Holly Gennero (Bonnie Bedelia), who is using her maiden name. Holly moved to Los Angeles several months earlier to pursue a career, leading to their separation. They have two children, Lucy and John.

On Christmas Eve, McClane visits his wife at her workplace at the Nakatomi Plaza. Simultaneously, Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) initiates his plan to steal $640 million in bearer bonds and takes the Nakatomi Company employees, including Holly, hostage, posing as terrorists to draw attention away from the theft, their final plan being to blow up the building and make it appear as though they died with the hostages in the explosion. McClane escapes detection and manages to hide throughout the building, killing the terrorists one by one. When McClane meets the terrorist's leader, Hans Gruber, a climactic battle ensues and McClane throws Gruber out the window.

After the events of Die Hard, McClane moves to Los Angeles, is promoted to lieutenant and is transferred to the Los Angeles Police Department. During this time, McClane appears to have become a national hero. Dialogue in the second film reveals that he was featured in People Magazine, did a spot on Nightline, and was referred to (by Colonel Stuart) as "the policeman hero who saved the Nakatomi hostages" along with a local news crew. In Die Hard 2 (1990), which takes place on Christmas Eve, McClane discovers that mercenaries have seized control of Washington Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C.. They take control of the airport's communications and threaten to cause plane crashes unless their demands are met. Holly is traveling on one of the planes and is stranded as her plane circles overhead. McClane discovers a conspiracy between the mercenaries and an active military unit. He foils their plans and provides a visual landing signal for the circling aircraft by exploding the plane the villains were using for their exit strategy.

Bruce Willis makes a brief, uncredited celebrity cameo as McClane in the comedy National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1. In it a helicopter launches an attack upon a beach house in California. From the rubble McClane staggers out and tells him it's the wrong address. The film starred Samuel L. Jackson who would star next to Willis again in Die Hard with a Vengeance, and several other projects.

In the third film, Die Hard with a Vengeance, McClane is back in New York. He is now separated from his wife, suspended from the police force, and a borderline alcoholic. A terrorist who goes only by the name "Simon" (Jeremy Irons) threatens to blow up various locations in the city unless McClane will play his twisted version of Simon says. McClane must solve a number of riddles and challenges in order to keep the bombs from going off. He receives the reluctant help of Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson), a shopkeeper from Harlem who had saved McClane after the first challenge "Simon" had put him through. The FBI finally reveals that "Simon" is in fact Simon Peter Gruber, the brother of Hans Gruber, who is attempting to kill McClane in revenge for his brother's death in the first film. In a subsequent revelation, McClane discovers that revenge is only a timely and clever cover story to conceal the true purpose behind his terrorist activities: the forced depletion of New York's Federal Reserve. With the help of Carver, McClane tracks Simon to the Canadian border. There, in a decisive final confrontation with the latter in a helicopter, McClane puts an end to Simon's plan with a handgun and a power line.

In Live Free or Die Hard (2007), which takes place on Independence Day,^[6] McClane is assigned to take hacker Matt Farrell (Justin Long) into FBI custody (McClane is mentioned as having been on the force for 30 years at the time of this film). In this film his rank, besides being a senior detective, is Lieutenant Detective. They soon discover that a group of terrorists are conducting a fire sale and are systematically taking out the nation's infrastructure (including power plants, traffic lights, transportation, and financial markets). McClane and his wife are divorced and McClane is not on speaking terms with his daughter, Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). During the course of the film Lucy is kidnapped by the terrorists as leverage against McClane. McClane's previous actions seem mostly forgotten, as Farrell was unaware of his past and McClane is somewhat cynical about what he did. With help from Farrell, McClane manages to yet again thwart a disaster, shooting through his own shoulder to kill Gabriel. His actions also seem to restore his relationship with his daughter or at least help restore it as the two are back on speaking terms again and Lucy introduces herself as Lucy McClane to Farrell when in the past she introduced herself as Lucy Gennero and apparently told guys her father was dead.

Family

Holly Gennero

Holly Gennero (formerly Holly Gennero McClane) is the wife of John McClane. Over the course of the series their relationship becomes more and more strained and by the fourth film, they are divorced. They have two children together, Jack and Lucy. Holly is portrayed in the first two films by actress Bonnie Bedelia.

When Holly is first introduced in Die Hard, she works at Nakatomi Plaza, a skyscraper in Los Angeles, which is home to a Japanese corporation. Her marriage to John has been estranged ever since she took up her new job and he refused to relocate with her from New York. Holly lives in L.A. with their children. They quickly get into an argument over why Holly chooses to use her maiden name (Gennero) at work, and are separated for most of the film while John fights the terrorists. By Die Hard 2 they seem to be on better terms.

Holly does not return for the third film in the series, Die Hard with a Vengeance. She is mentioned in conversation and McClane makes an attempt to telephone her. Despite not appearing, her voice is heard briefly on the phone. She still resides in Los Angeles and is still married to McClane.

In Live Free or Die Hard, cyber-terrorist Thomas Gabriel pulls up a picture of her driver's license in one scene. He also notes that Holly and McClane are divorced.

Lucy Gennero-McClane

Born in 1982, Lucy McClane is John's daughter. She is played by Taylor Fry in Die Hard and Mary Elizabeth Winstead in Live Free or Die Hard. Her first appearance is in Die Hard talking to her mother on the phone.

In Live Free or Die Hard, she tells her boyfriend that McClane is dead and goes by her mother's maiden name, styling herself as Lucy Gennero. Villain Thomas Gabriel kidnaps her and uses her as leverage against John McClane as McClane closes in on Gabriel. During the climactic scene, she grabs a gun and shoots the person who is holding her and attempts to slide a gun to her father, but is foiled by Gabriel at the last second. She forgives her father over the course of the movie and displays great courage and faith in her father. As the movie goes on she switches her last name back to McClane and even helps her father out: when Gabriel tells her to talk her father down, she uses the opportunity to tell him there are five bad guys left and later insists he will save her, which he does. After its all over, she expresses romantic interest in McClane's sidekick Matthew Farrell.

Before Mary Elizabeth Winstead was chosen as Lucy McClane, there were other rumors as to who would play the role of McClane's daughter. It was speculated that Bruce Willis' real life daughter Rumer, who was born the same year that the original Die Hard was released, was a prime candidate for the part of Lucy McClane.^[7] Jessica Simpson,^[8] Britney Spears,^[9] and Taylor Fry,^[10] who played Lucy in the original Die Hard movie in 1988, had all previously auditioned for the role.

Prior to Live Free, Lucy was featured in the 2002 video game Die Hard: Vendetta, where she is a member of the Los Angeles Police Department.

John McClane Jr.

Born in 1984, McClane's son appears briefly in the first film as a young child. He was portrayed by Noah Land. In Live Free or Die Hard, Thomas Gabriel refers to him by the name "Jack" and goes by his mother, Holly's, last name. Therefore he is John Gennero or Jack Gennero. In early drafts of the script of Live Free or Die Hard, John Jr. was set to be in the film.^[11] He is rumored to play an important role in the upcoming fifth film.^[12] Four actors are in talks to protray John Jr. in the fifth Die Hard are Liam Hemsworth, Aaron Paul, James Badge Dale and D.J. Cotrona.^[13]

Reception

Empire ranked him number 12 on their list of the 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.^[3] In a survey by MTV, "accomplished" filmmakers, actors and fans voted on the "Greatest Movie Badass of All Time". McClane came in third, behind only Ellen Ripley and Dirty Harry.^[14] In April 2009, Entertainment Weekly ranked John McClane sixth in list of the top twenty "All-Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture", describing "Bruce Willis' wisecracking, terrorist-foiling New York cop" character as "the anti-Bond". The magazine called the characters portrayed by Keanu Reeves in Speed, Wesley Snipes in Passenger 57, and Jean-Claude Van Damme in Sudden Death as "copycat descendants" of John McClane.^[15]

Bruce Willis was called "an excellent casting choice as a sardonic action hero."^[16]

Future

On May 5, 2010 it was announced that X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The A-Team writer, Skip Woods was in negotiations to script a fifth Die Hard movie and the film will be produced by Alex Young. Bruce Willis will again return as John McClane and Willis said that he would like to see Live Free or Die Hard director, Len Wiseman return and would also like to see the story take place outside of the United States with a tentative title of Die Hard 24/7.^[17][18] On October 12, 2011, the official title of the fifth Die Hard is called A Good Day to Die Hard.^[19]

References

1. ^ In Die Hard: But you have me at a loss -- you know my name, but who are you? Just another American who saw too many movies as a child. Another orphan of a bankrupt culture who thinks he's John Wayne... Rambo... Marshal Dillion.
2. ^ In Die Hard: Actually, I was always partial to Roy Rogers. I really dug those sequined shirts.
3. ^ ^{a b} "The 100 Greatest Movie Characters". Empire Online. http://www.empireonline.com/100-greatest-movie-characters/default.asp?c=12. 
4. ^ In Die Hard: With a Vengeance: Inspector Walter Cobb: "I can appreciate your feelings for McClane. But believe me, the jerk isn't worth it. He's stepped on so many toes in this department, by next month he's going to be a security guard. His own wife wants nothing to do with him, and he's about two steps shy of becoming a full-blown alcoholic."(McClane revises this statement to being 1 step)
5. ^ In Live Free or Die Hard: "Do you know what you get for being a hero? Nothing! You get shot at. Pat on the back, blah blah blah. That a boy! You get divorced... Your wife can't remember your last name, kids don't want to talk to you... You get to eat a lot of meals by yourself. Trust me kid, nobody wants to be that guy. [I do this] because there is nobody else to do it right now. Believe me if there was somebody else to do it, I would let them do it. There's not, so [I'm] doing it. That's what makes you that guy."
6. ^ During the montage of presidents, they collectively say, have a nice independence day
7. ^ "Die Hard 4.0 (2007)". Yahoo!. http://sg.movies.yahoo.com/Die+Hard+4.0/movie/13883/. Retrieved 2008-05-22. 
8. ^ "Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica-Episode #22 "Mismatched Threesome"". TV.com. http://www.tv.com/newlyweds-nick-and-jessica/mismatched-threesome/episode/344231/summary.html?tag=ep_list;ep_title;21. Retrieved 2008-05-22. 
9. ^ "Britney Spears To Join Die Hard 4 Cast?". KillerMovies.com. January 21, 2003. http://www.killermovies.com/d/diehard4/articles/2705.html. Retrieved 2007-11-14. 
10. ^ Thomas, Brian. "Movie Review LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD". Mania Movies. http://www.mania.com/55177.html. Retrieved 2008-05-22. 
11. ^ Ain't It Cool News^{[dead link]}
12. ^ Bracken, Mike (2011-08-01). "First 'Die Hard 5' Plot Details Emerge: John McClane Goes Global (Updated with Director Shortlist)". Movies.com. http://www.movies.com/movie-news/die-hard-5-plot/3876?wssac=164&wssaffid=news. Retrieved 2011-11-18. 
13. ^ Fleming, Mike (2011-11-04). "‘Die Hard’ Search For Bruce Willis’ Son Down To Four Actors". Deadline.com. http://www.deadline.com/2011/11/die-hard-search-for-bruce-williss-son-down-to-four-actors/. Retrieved 2011-11-18. 
14. ^ Carroll, Larry (2009-02-06). "Our Greatest Movie Badass Of All Time Is ...". MTV. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1604506/20090206/story.jhtml. Retrieved 2011-11-18. 
15. ^ "Entertainment Weekly's 20 All Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20268279_15,00.html. Retrieved September 11, 2010. 
16. ^ Haflidason, Almar (15 December 2000). "Die Hard (1988)". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2000/12/15/die_hard_1988_review.shtml. Retrieved September 11, 2010. 
17. ^ "'Die Hard 5' Script In Negotiations". MTV. 5-05-2010. http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1638454/20100505/story.jhtml?rsspartner=rssYahooNewscrawler. Retrieved 2010-05-5. 
18. ^ "Fresh New Titles for Fox's Die Hard 5 & Fantastic Four Reboot". Firstshowing.net. 2010-06-09. http://www.firstshowing.net/2010/06/09/fresh-new-titles-for-foxs-die-hard-5-fantastic-four-reboot. Retrieved 2011-11-18. 
19. ^ McClintock, Pamela (2011-10-12). "Fox Moves Ahead With New 'Die Hard' and 'Percy Jackson' Films". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fox-die-hard-percy-jackson-247435. Retrieved 2011-11-18. 

External links

• John McClane at the Internet Movie Database