Before Bruce Willis was cast in his favorite movie, a large number of action stars refused to play John McClain. The likes of Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, Burt Reynolds, Mel Gibson and Paul Newman have been approached. But did you know that Frank Sinatra and Arnold Schwarzenegger were, too?
FBI Special Agent Paige Johnson star Robert Davy, who is participating in a special Die Hard Q&A with director John McTiernan in London tonight, shared how two friends of his refused to play John McClane.
Arnie was an obvious choice in the late ’80s of the male muscular action heroes, but decided to make Twins instead, turning to comedy.
However, the Terminator star ended up watching the movie with Davi, who shared exclusively with Express.co.uk: “I remember watching it for the first time with Schwarzenegger because we were good friends at that moment as we did Raw Deal together. We went to 20th Century Fox to watch it and it was Its just effect, you know? Bruce Willis runs shirtless and his feet are bleeding. There was some mythical…a Christ-like aspect of sacrifice.”
Davy became close friends with Sinatra after he made his first movie with the Rat Pack star in Contract on Cherry Street in the 1970s. He talked about how the singer was first asked to star in Die Hard outside of a contractual obligation.
The 71-year-old shared: “He did a movie titled Detective and the character he played is John Leland and because of that, Sinatra had the sequel rights to anything author Richard Thorpe wrote. So when he wrote Nothing Lasts Forever, which was a blueprint for Die Hard, he was They have to go to Sinatra first, but he didn’t do it like he was in his early seventies, and it wasn’t such a thrilling movie. Several actors were offered Die Hard and then luckily fell into the hands of Bruce Willis.”
Read more: Bruce Willis director cries over their dispute and the end of the star’s career
Davy and McTiernan launch the London Film Festival tonight with a special screening of Die Hard.
Besides a Friday night show tomorrow with action movie cast members, composer David Arnold giving a live performance and more, there’s plenty of action over the weekend. As well as directorial Q&A specials for Con Air, Predator and Gangs of London.
The London Action Film Festival takes place from 28-31 July. Tickets are available over here.
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