{"id":1989712,"date":"2023-08-03T13:07:05","date_gmt":"2023-08-03T17:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-book-reveals-bruce-willis-almost-died-during-filming-of-iconic-movie-not-first-choice-for-casting\/"},"modified":"2023-08-03T13:10:05","modified_gmt":"2023-08-03T17:10:05","slug":"new-book-reveals-bruce-willis-almost-died-during-filming-of-iconic-movie-not-first-choice-for-casting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-book-reveals-bruce-willis-almost-died-during-filming-of-iconic-movie-not-first-choice-for-casting\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Willis nearly died while filming a famous movie and was not the initial casting choice, according to a new book."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">42<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnew-book-reveals-bruce-willis-almost-died-during-filming-of-iconic-movie-not-first-choice-for-casting%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1989712&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>How Bruce \u2063Willis Almost\u200b Died During Filming of Iconic Movie<\/h2>\n<p>It may be hard for the younger generations to believe, but there was a\u2063 time when nobody in Hollywood thought Bruce Willis could carry an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-complete-guide-to-gina-caranos-post-mma-career\/\" title=\"The Complete Guide to Gina Carano\u2019s Post-MMA Career\">action movie<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A new book about heroes\u200d of the silver screen provides a glimpse into the series of events that \u200cled \u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/bruce-willis-family-announces-diagnosed-cruel-disease-many-us-never-heard\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Willis<\/a> to his starring role in the beloved film \u201cDie Hard,\u201d according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/07\/04\/die-hard-crew-feared-bruce-willis-was-dead-after-first-scene\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New York Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The book also relates a story about a stunt from the\u200b film in which Willis came pretty close to \u201cdying hard\u201d \u2063himself.<\/p>\n<p>Nick de Semlyen chronicled \u200dthe stories \u200dbehind \u2064the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-book-reveals-bruce-willis-almost-died-during-filming-of-iconic-movie-not-first-choice-for-casting\/\" title=\"Bruce Willis nearly died while filming a famous movie and was not the initial casting choice, according to a new book.\">testosterone-laden shoot-em-ups<\/a> of that era in \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Last-Action-Heroes-Triumphs-Hollywoods\/dp\/059323880X\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=23NX8UZLCV9L0&#038;keywords=Last+Action+Heroes&#038;qid=1687895258&#038;s=books&#038;sprefix=last+action+heroes,stripbooks,62&#038;sr=1-1&#038;tag=nypost-20&#038;asc_refurl=https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/07\/04\/die-hard-crew-feared-bruce-willis-was-dead-after-first-scene\/&#038;asc_source=web\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Last Action Heroes: The Triumphs, Flops, and Feuds of Hollywood\u2019s Kings of\u200b Carnage<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In \u2064the section about Willis, de Semlyen rattled off a list\u2064 of stars who reportedly turned down the role of wise-cracking \u2062cop John McClane, according to the Post.<\/p>\n<h3>The list reads like\u200b a stroll down Hollywood\u2019s famous Walk\u2062 of Fame, with names\u200c like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/sylvester-stallone-joins-mar-lago-club-liberals-lose-minds-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sylvester\u200d Stallone<\/a>, Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Caan, Burt\u200b Reynolds, Al Pacino and Harrison Ford.<\/h3>\n<p>Every one of those actors and more turned down the role when the script for \u201cDie Hard\u201d was \u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/bidens-armed-irs-agents-already-making-raids-gop-congressman-demands-answers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">making the \u200drounds<\/a>, because the\u200c character was a wisecracking cop viewed by \u2064some of the stars as too much of a loser \u200dfor them \u2062to\u200b risk their reputations\u200c on.<\/p>\n<p>That left the producers with one\u200d option left: Willis, who, at\u200d the time, was \u201cjust\u201d \u2063a TV star,\u200c played a wisecracking private detective\u2062 in the wildly popular sitcom \u2062\u201cMoonlighting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It turned out to be a\u200c stroke of casting genius.<\/p>\n<h2>Are \u200byou glad the studio cast \u2064Bruce \u2062Willis in \u200dDie Hard?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Yes<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>No<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The first shot of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/bruce-willis-wife-issues-emotional-plea-paparazzi-ailing-actors-uncomfortable-encounter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">film<\/a> very \u200dnearly \u2062became his\u2063 last\u200c day of shooting \u2014\u2063 ever \u2014 \u2062according to de Semlyen, as quoted in\u2064 the Post.<\/p>\n<p>Willis was directed to jump from a ledge on \u2063a\u200d five<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-york-city-parking-garage-collapse-leaves-at-least-one-dead-and-four-injured\/\" title=\"At least one person is killed and four others are injured in the New York City parking garage decline.\">-story parking garage<\/a> onto an air\u2062 bag below.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs he did, large \u2062plastic bags of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/punk-pours-gasoline-random-truck-fun-immediately-ends-old-man-whips-pistol\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gasoline<\/a> \u200bwere detonated, unleashing a fireball that blew Willis, he claimed, right to the edge of the bag,\u201d de Semlyen said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I landed, everyone came running over to \u2063me and I thought they were \u200bgoing to say, \u2018Great job!\u2063 Attaboy!\u2019\u201d \u200dWillis later recalled. \u201cAnd what they were doing is seeing if\u200d I\u2019m alive because I almost missed \u200bthe bag.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite \u200bits rough\u2062 start in the casting phase, and despite the naysayers like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/arnold-schwarzenegger-involved-violent-accident-witness-compares-sight-movie-stunt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Schwarzenegger<\/a>, who mocked Willis\u2019 \u201ctoothpick arms,\u201d \u201cDie\u2064 Hard\u201d ultimately surprised everyone \u2064by becoming a huge audience favorite.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWillis\u2019s regular-Joe appearance intensified the tension considerably,\u201d de Semlyen \u200bwrote, in an exclusive excerpt published by <a href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/movies\/the-last-action-heroes-excerpt-die-hard-bruce-willis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Entertainment Weekly<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBruce is not imposing. You don\u2019t meet him and \u200bgo, \u2018Whoo!&#8217;\u201d says\u200c [producer Lawrence] Gordon. \u201cIt really worked for the film, \u2019cause \u2062you believe he\u2064 may not \u200dmake\u200b it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No word \u2063from either the\u200c Post or Entertainment Weekly gave \u200dpeople a clue as to whether de Semlyen answered the \u2062one question most \u201cDie Hard\u201d fans really want to know: Should the film should \u200bbe classified as a Christmas movie?<\/p>\n<p>But it did acknowledge that the \u200bfaith of the producers and casting directors was rewarded when \u201cDie Hard\u201d became the\u2062 top-grossing action \u200cflick of 1988.<\/p>\n<p>It also \u2063launched <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/bruce-willis-speaks-camera-first-time-since-diagnosed-disease-no-cure\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bruce Willis\u2019<\/a> career as a top box-office draw in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-death-of-movies-has-come\/\" title=\"The Death of Movies Has Come\">action movies<\/a> for\u2064 the next several decades.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/new-book-reveals-bruce-willis-almost-died-filming-iconic-movie-not-first-choice-casting\/\">New Book Reveals Bruce Willis Almost Died During \u2064Filming of Iconic Movie, Not First Choice \u200bfor Casting<\/a> appeared first on \u2063 <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\">The Western Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A book on silver screen heroes reveals how Bruce Willis, once doubted by Hollywood, defied expectations to become the star of a beloved action movie. Younger generations may find it difficult to believe, but there was a time when this seemed unlikely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2022,"featured_media":1989713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1989712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2022"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1989712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1989713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1989712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1989712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1989712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}