Live Free or Die Hard

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Live Free or Die Hard
Live Free or Die Hard teaser poster
Directed by	Len Wiseman
Produced by	John McTiernan Arnold Rifkin Bruce Willis
Written by	Mark Bomback (screenplay) Doug Richardson (written by) Roderick Thorp (characters)
Starring	Bruce Willis Justin Long Mary Elizabeth Winstead Timothy Olyphant Maggie Q
Music by	Marco Beltrami
Editing by	Nicolas De Toth
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	June 29, 2007 July 6, 2007
Country	USA
Language	English
Preceded by	Die Hard: With a Vengeance
Official website
IMDb profile

Live Free or Die Hard (titled Die Hard 4.0 internationally) is the fourth installment in the Die Hard film series. It stars veteran actor Bruce Willis as John McClane, the hero of the first three films. The film takes place some 18 years after the first film, and sees McClane coming out of retirement to face a gang of Internet terrorists. The film's release date is June 29, 2007. The release date was pushed up by Fox Studios to prevent direct competition with "Transformers."

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Cast and crew 3 Production 4 Media responses 5 References 6 External links 6.1 Official Websites 6.2 Trailer Links 6.3 Miscellaneous Links

[edit] Plot summary

In the past few years, aging police officer John McClane (Bruce Willis) has spent his time in and out of Alcoholics Anonymous and is divorced from his wife. He is no longer employed by the police department, but has found a position with the United States Department of Homeland Security chasing dangerous computer hackers. On his way to turn a young hacker named Matt Foster (Justin Long) into custody, he experiences a modern version of a terrorist attack first hand when he gets stuck in traffic. A group of hackers have struck at the vulnerable United States computer infrastructure and are systematically shutting it down, beginning with the traffic light system. As they move on to crash banking networks and the stock market, the indices plummet and America's economy becomes crippled. As usual, McClane gets caught up in the middle of the excitement. It turns out that the recently captured Matt seems bright enough to understand exactly what the terrorists are doing and what steps they are taking to achieve their mission. The sophisticated criminals have a nearly foolproof plan to bring the country to a halt, but they didn't count on an old-school cop and his computer-smart buddy to figure things out. Soon, the crime-fighting duo of McClane and Foster are pulling out all the stops and matching wits with the terrorists, hoping to figure out the motives behind their actions and to stop them before the entire nation collapses.

[edit] Cast and crew

• Bruce Willis as John McClane
• Justin Long as Matt Foster
• Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Lucy McClane
• Timothy Olyphant as Greg Pope
• Maggie Q as Mai Lihn
• Yancey Arias as Agent Johnson
• Kevin Smith as The Warlock
• Yorgo Constantine as Russo
• Cyril Raffaelli

• Len Wiseman, best known for his work on Underworld and Underworld: Evolution, has been announced as the director ^[1]. In an August 3, 2006 interview in USA Today, Wiseman said none of the characters (McClane excluded) from the earlier movies would be returning ^[2]. It was previously believed that John McTiernan, the director of the original Die Hard and Die Hard: With a Vengeance, would return to direct, however, he is currently facing jail time for perjury.

• McClane's daughter is said to have a prominent role in the film (an idea previously considered for Die Hard: With a Vengeance). It was speculated that Bruce Willis' real life daughter Rumer, who was born the same year that the original Die Hard was released, is a prime candidate for the part of Lucy McClane. Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears had previously auditioned for the role; Paris Hilton had been considered for the role and Taylor Fry, who had played Lucy in the original Die Hard movie in 1988. Mary Elizabeth Winstead has now been cast in the role of Lucy McClane in this sequel.

[edit] Production

• The film's plot is based on a pitch by Doug Richardson, screenwriter on Die Hard 2, who told Willis his idea while working with the actor on Hostage. In the very early stages of development, the title was Die Hard: Tears of the Sun. Reportedly, Bruce Willis liked the title so much that he convinced executives to drop it so it could be used for his 2003 film^[3].

• In a 2005 interview with Willis in Empire magazine, the film was to be called Die Hard 4.0, as it revolves around computers. Although he said that, IGN later reported the film was to be called Die Hard: Reset instead^[4]. 20th Century Fox later announced the title as Live Free or Die Hard and set a release date of June 29, 2007 with filming to begin in September 2006.^{[5] [6]} The title is based on the state motto of New Hampshire, "Live Free or Die," which is attributed to a quote from General John Stark. International trailers are using the Die Hard 4.0 title ^[7], suggesting that the film will be released outside America with that title, most likely because international audiences would be unlikely to recognise the reference.

• Filming for Live Free or Die Hard started in downtown Baltimore, Maryland on September 23, 2006.^[8]

• Willis chose to forego a hairpiece to show that his character has aged since the previous films.

• Willis was injured January 24, 2007 during a fight scene, where he was kicked above his right eye. The injury was regarded as "no big deal" and Willis saw a doctor and went home for the rest of the day.^[9]

• Willis' stunt double, Larry Rippenkroeger, was seriously injured when he fell 25 feet (8 metres) to the pavement. He suffered broken bones in his face and fractures in both wrists. Production was temporarily shut down. Willis picked up the tab at area hotels for Larry's parents and visited him a number of times at the hospital.

• Certain scenes were filmed at the LA County Fairplex in Pomona and Avon Lake, Ohio.

[edit] Media responses

• Technology website, The Register reported on February 23, 2007 that this film would likely cause "media hysteria" and called it a Haxploitation film due to its likeness to Blaxploitation films. ^[10]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] Official Websites

• LiveFreeOrDieHard.com

[edit] Trailer Links

• Live Free or Die Hard Teaser Trailer at Yahoo! Movies
• Live Free or Die Hard Teaser Trailer at YouTube
• Live Free or Die Hard Teaser Trailer at Google Video
• Die Hard 4.0 Exclusive Die Hard 4.0 Trailer
• Die Hard 4.0 Fanmade trailer
• New Trailer New Trailer at YouTube

[edit] Miscellaneous Links

• Live Free or Die Hard at the Internet Movie Database
• Live Free or Die Hard at Rotten Tomatoes
• Live Free or Die Hard at ComingSoon.net
• Live Free or Die Hard at CountingDown.com
• Live Free or Die Hard at TheMovieInsider.com

The Die Hard films
Die Hard | Die Hard 2 | Die Hard with a Vengeance | Live Free or Die Hard
Characters
Heroes: John McClane | Sgt. Al Powell | Zeus Carver | Matt Foster
Villains: Hans Gruber | Colonel Stuart | Simon Gruber
Recurring: Holly Gennero McClane | Richard Thornburg
Crew
Directors: John McTiernan | Renny Harlin | Len Wiseman
Producers: Joel Silver | Lawrence Gordon | John McTiernan | Bruce Willis
Writers: Steven E. de Souza | Doug Richardson | Jonathan Hensleigh
Video games
Die Hard | Die Hard Arcade | Die Hard Trilogy | Die Hard Trilogy 2 | Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza | Die Hard: Vendetta
Miscellaneous
Fox Plaza | Glock 7 | Nothing Lasts Forever