Len Wiseman, Bruce Willis and Justin Long Interview – LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD
6/2/2007
Posted by Frosty

You used to say you couldn't be an action guy at 50. What do you think about that now?
Bruce Willis: Well, I know a lot of cops that are actually my age. If you get in shape, I'm living testament to the fact that you can do a film like this and still survive. I had to work out a lot to get my muscles to the size that they protected my bones so my bones wouldn't shatter when I dove onto the concrete floor. But I lived through it. I get beat up and you see that happen on screen. But I'm glad I didn't wait a couple more years. Don't try this at home. There was a lot of healing. I wish I had kept a running log of just the wear and tear and how much actual hide got scraped off.
So is this really the last Die Hard?
Bruce Willis: No, I don't think so. I think that Fox is already talking about doing another one. I told them I would only do it if Len is involved.
Justin Long: And?
Bruce Willis: And Maggie Q. And Justin of course, yeah, because we can't do it without Justin.
Len Wiseman: I've got to say, I've been asked that question a few times and the thing is, it's been 12 years? Nine years?
Bruce Willis: '95 so 12 years since Die Hard 3 and 21 years is the span of all four of them so you can see me when I'm 31 and you can see me when I'm 52. You guys will decide. There are moments in the film where you see me getting up a little slower. And I do things that I probably shouldn't be doing.
Len Wiseman: But you're in much better shape than you were in the third one.
Bruce Willis: For sure, I was in a much better shape on this one than I was, because I was supposed to be a kind of beat up, alcoholic cop in that one. I spent years researching that role, not the cop part.
Do you go back and watch the old ones?
Bruce Willis: I looked at them just before we started shooting this and I know I like the first one. I looked at the second and third one and said, "Can't do that, can't do that, can't do that." One of the rules we had was that we banned ourselves from being self-referential. The second film, if you go back and look at the second film, there's so many fuckin' references to referring to the first film. And it was such bullshit, I just hated it. It was just really a stupid, stupid thing. I don't know, I liked jumping out of the helicopter onto the wing of that plane. I like that from the second one. But I'd have to look at it to tell you if there was anything else I really liked.
Len Wiseman: I like the icicle through the eye.
Bruce Willis: Icicle through the eye, that was good.
Len Wiseman: One of my favorite parts of Die Hard, when people ask me like --
Bruce Willis: J.J.'s dad was in that.

Len Wiseman: "What's your favorite action sequence?" and it comes down to a shot in Die Hard 1 that I had never seen before in any kind of action film. When you're down on the ground and shooting at the guy running at you and it pops the guy in the knees. He gets popped in the kneecap and then he falls forward, he doesn't go through the glass, just his head goes through the glass.
Bruce Willis: That was a great stunt.
Len Wiseman: I'd never seen anything like that.
Justin Long: I've seen that in real life.
Thank you all.
Bruce Willis: And now back to our third job.
Justin, will you do Comic-Con?
Justin Long: I don't know. I think I might.
Bruce, why RC Cola? (He was drinking it)
Bruce Willis: Better than Pepsi or Coke. Thank you all very much.
Justin, at the last junket you were freaking out in the corner about an upcoming job but couldn’t tell us what it was. Was this it?
Justin Long: That's right. It was like mum's the word. It hadn't been official. And now I'm like, I've been through it.
How was the whole process?
Justin Long: It was rough. It was long, five months. I'd never seen anything like it.
In the movie, are they PCs or Macs and is it a conflict?
Justin Long: I think they're PCs. I'm sure they were aware of it.
Did you read about Steve Jobs and Bill Gates about the commercials?
Justin Long: Oh, they did. I heard he's sort of pissed about it. Now, it's nice doing it. It's a great job for me but people are very passionate about airing on one side or the other. It's serious. I can't really even relate to the people. I suppose I have to. I have to choose a side. But I think they probably made a conscious- - I don't think they'd want Macs everywhere in the movie. Listen to iPods while we're running away from things.


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