For all the talk we've heard from Bruce Willis and Fox about Die Hard 5, there really hasn't been all that much movement on it. I mean it's not like we know when it'll shoot, or when it will be released. Or even who'll star in it other than Bruce Willis reprising his role as the dirty tank-topped cop, John McClain. And the one hard piece of information we did have on it is has crashed and burned, as Twitch reports that Noam Murro(Smart People
) has dropped out of directing the film. Can they just kill the entire idea now?If you'll recall, the relatively unknown Murro was improbably hired back in February for the job. For somebody who's one bit of big screen experience was an indie featuring lots of chatter, he didn't seem right for Die Hard which involves mostly grunting and shooting. But the guy must have more action chops than I'm aware of, because just a couple of weeks ago he was hired to direct 300: Battle of Artemisia, the prequel to 2007's sweaty Spartan pic. Apparently it's due to his commitments to that film which are causing him to drop out. So is Die Hard 5 dead?
Not at all, as Twitch also notes that the directing job is John Moore's to take or leave. Moore's resume would seem to make him a better fit for anyway, and it makes me wonder why he wasn't chosen over Murro. His last film was 2008's Max Payne
(which was terrible), but he's also been at the helm for Behind Enemy Lines
, which was sorta like Die Hard on a global scale. And he did make a pretty solid remake of The Omen
back in 2006. Die Hard 5's script was written by Skip Woods(Swordfish
, Hitman
), and new details reveal that it will take place in Russia, with McClain and his son battling local forces. How cool would it be if Kevin Smith, who appeared in Live Free or Die Hard
and has some sort of personal beef with Willis, was revealed to be McClain's son? That would be sick. Either way I'm preparing myself for plenty of lame jokes about how Russians drink lots of vodka. Har har har.
