Bruce Willis initially refused to say one of his funny lines in Die Hard 2.

For Christmas 2024, Netflix has unveiled the latest in a seemingly endless line of cool action movies that are ultimately doomed to become the digital equivalent of fossils buried on the streaming giant’s servers. Carry On is an action thriller set in Los Angeles in which Theron Egerton’s TSA officer must foil a plot to release a deadly nerve agent on board an airplane. In other words, it was a Christmas action film set entirely in an airport, and thus in an inescapable debt to Mordov Oreshk 2.

This particular action sequel has a bit of a strange legacy that goes beyond influencing average Netflix movies. While the 1988 original tops just about everyone Rating of “Die Strong” movies.1990’s Die Hard 2 is definitely a contender for second place. The Legacy sequels removed themselves from that conversation, turning Bruce Willis’ John McClane into yet another generic superhero action archetype that just leaves Peanuts 2 and the 1995 triquel behind. “Nut men with a vengeance.” But if you go by what the critics said when Die Hard 2 came out, you could put it behind Revenge. According to many reviewers, the sequel tried too hard to imitate its predecessor, rehashing the same setting, tone and story beats, but failing to do anything original.

Even his co-star seems to share that opinion. Posting on the AICN forums back in 2007 (via Rotten tomatoes) Willis said that Nutcracker 2 was his “least favorite and least fun” of all the films in the franchise. why? The star seemed to feel that the film’s critics essentially got it right, with Willis echoing the most common criticism of the film as being “too self-important.” He also felt that the story was “all over the place and suffered from a strong non-claustrophobia”.

But it seems there may be another big reason Willis doesn’t like Nutcracker 2, and that has to do with fundamental disagreements about how John McClane should have been played.

In Die Hard 2, John McClane, now a lieutenant in the Los Angeles Police Department, fights a brand new gang of terrorists while trapped inside Dulles Airport in Washington. In fairness to the critics, the film is pretty much a remake of the first one, just in an airport instead of a skyscraper. But Die Hard was great, so in a way you have to wonder what’s wrong with more of the same? However, for Bruce Willis, it was completely the wrong approach for a sequel, at least according to Renee Harlin.

In 2022, the director spoke with Empire about the making of Die Hard 2, at one point revealing that Willis came into the project with ambitions to make McClane a more grounded character. As Harlin explained it, Willis went from “TV star to movie star” overnight thanks to the success of the original Die Hard, and that quick transformation seemed to give the actor a sense of ownership over his character. Harlin claimed that Willis “had this idea from the beginning that he wanted to play John McClane completely straight now, that this movie had to be serious.” Of course, no one watches Die Hard for its naturalism, a point that Harlin seemed to understand better than his co-star. The director continued:

“I told him, ‘This is not the John McClane that the audience loves. They feel like you’re their friend now, and they don’t want to lose their friend.” We had a serious disagreement about this. He said: “These tongue-in-cheek comments are nonsense when there’s a life at stake.” I said, “Yeah, not in real life, but it’s a movie.” Strong to die.'”

The disagreement led to a meeting between Willis, Harlin and producer Joel Silver, in which the trio decided that Willis would be able to say the words his way as many times as he wanted. But he also had to give Harlin at least one humorous take on the material. “He did it reluctantly and not so happily,” said the director, who used every light moment he could in the final version. This constant clash between director and actor led to one particular moment when Willis almost got away with dodging one of his best lines in Die Hard 2 .

Bruce Willis wasn’t the only one unsure about the content of his Die Hard sequel. 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios). In 2019, Disney acquired Fox) initially wanted to replace the large passenger plane crash in Die Hard 2 with a UPS plane crashbefore test audiences rejected the idea. Unfortunately for Rennie Harlin, nothing could shake Willis’ faith in the more grounded John McClane. When asked to recall one particularly difficult moment on the set of The Nutcracker 2, Harlin revealed that Bruce Willis almost got away without saying one of the movie’s best lines. This happens when McClane asks an airline representative to use her fax machine, but the woman suggests meeting after her shift ends. John then shows the wedding ring and says, “Just a fax, ma’am. Only a fax.”

According to Harlin, filming this one take was “just painful” because Willis seems to have been particularly stubborn about his more serious attitude towards McClain:

“Bruce hated that (line). He said: “This is so disgraceful and stupid. I refuse to say that.’ I asked him and Joel (Silver) to say it once out of 15 takes and it took an hour.

Harlin also explained that the line was more than a retention of MacLaine’s humor from Nutcracker, noting that it “shows that he cares about his wife. It makes him relatable and a really honorable guy.” There’s no doubt that McClane’s charisma and everyman appeal were crucial to the success of those early Die Hard films, and it certainly seems strange that Willis wanted to tone it down for the film. But in truth, that’s just Harlin’s recollection of the shoot, and aside from detracting from the quality of Nutcracker 2, Willis hasn’t really given his side of the story. Anyway, Harleen won in the end. The 1990 sequel eventually restored the original’s tone and, despite what critics say, remains one of the best in the series, even as it inspired an endless stream of streaming imitations for decades to come.