The Die Hard franchise ran out of gas a long time ago, with 2013’s dismal fifth entry reducing the once mighty brand to a shadow of its former glories, and thankfully, any talk of a completely unnecessary prequel film or TV show has fallen by the wayside over the last few years.
As arguably the single greatest action movie ever made, you’d imagine that the monolithic status of John McTiernan’s classic in the genre would make it untouchable when it comes to any potential remake or reboot without Bruce Willis’ John McClane, but Charlize Theron clearly has other ideas.
A couple of months back, the actress threw her weight behind the online campaign to have her star in a female-driven Die Hard, although there were inevitably just as many people who scoffed at the thought as there were those who supported it. Now, in a new interview, Theron’s admitted that she’s still game to throw on the white vest and crawl through an air vent or two.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s a great idea. That’s why I replied on Twitter. Because I just thought that was kind of brilliant. I was like, ‘This person needs to start pitching. That’s a great idea’. And the fact that it would be two women, I was like, ‘Yeah, sign me on’.”
It can’t be denied that the Academy Award winning actress is one of cinema’s most prominent action heroes having starred in Mad Max: Fury Road, Atomic Blonde and The Old Guard since 2015 alone, but Die Hard should remain exactly how it is, free from the grubby fingerprints of remakes and/or reboots.
That being said, the ‘Die Hard on a…’ subgenre has provided plenty of all-time great action movies in its own right over the last three decades, so there’s no reason why Theron couldn’t star in a project that possesses a couple of superficial similarities. A straightforward redo, however, is tantamount to sacrilege in the eyes of many fans, and rightfully so.