Die Hard 5 Gets a Writer

By James Sheldon on May 5th, 2010

Skip Woods has been hired to work the pen. Or computer. I assume he uses Final Draft, though he may be a fan of Movie Magic.

The writer of Swordfish, Hitman, X Men Origins: Wolverine and most recently the big screen adaptation of the TV classic, The A-Team, will offer the imagination candy behind the potential 5th installment of the adventures of John McClane. What will it be? Let the speculation begin.

It has been 22 years since the release of Die Hard, and I’m thinking that the soonest possible release would be late 2012 for version number five. I believe we can all agree that the whole point of creating the first film was to prove that the franchise would die hard–become impossible to kill.

I’m thinking that 20-something years later, if Hans Gruber had a son, even illegitimate, he’d be pretty pissed by now, and looking for revenge. Then again, they went with the Simon Gruber/brother route in 1995’s Die Hard With a Vengeance, so perhaps that would be a bit much.

I think you have to get McClane out of the United States for this one. (Yes, Skip Woods, I’m sure you’re reading this and you can totally use any of these ideas.) Regardless, the first four films have tapped into most of the major American cities, and you just have to leave Chicago for Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones. So, let’s get off of American soil for #5, and plug John McClane into some of the Jason Bourne/James Bond settings. Cool? In fact, Paris would be premium. I’m already seeing a scene on the Eiffel Tower. If not Paris, then perhaps Istanbul?

Regardless, whatever Skip Woods decides, then the studio changes, and Skip Woods rewrites–I’ll be there.