Die Hard: With a Vengeance [1995]

Random Trivia For This Title:

• Originally titled Simon Says (where Zeus was scripted as a woman) and was considered as the third sequel to Lethal Weapon. In the DVD commentary, Jonathan Hensleigh says that the first hour of the film is his original Simon Says script word for word. He only changed the characters from the script, so that it would actually feel a part of the [Die Hard] series. He was actually detained by the FBI after completing the script for the film because he knew extensive information about the Federal Gold Reserve in Downtown Manhattan. Hensleigh stated that he got all the information from an article written in the [New York Times].
• McClane only has two bullets at his disposal to kill Simon in the finale of the film. He also only had two bullets in the first Die Hard to kill Simon's brother, Hans.
• During its Pay Per View run in 1996, a bonus featurette followed the presentation of the movie which included footage of some scenes with additional dialogue such as the scene in the Federal Reserve Bank where Felix Little asks "You're in the flower business, Mr. Vanderflug?" and added is Simon replying "It's Vanderfluge, it rhymes with tulip." explaining why Felix pronounces the name correctly from that point on. This featurette is not included in the Special Edition DVD.
• Director John McTiernan acknowledged the errors concerning the gold in the dump trucks and its respective weight. McTiernan and Samuel L. Jackson were permitted to lift a genuine bar of gold to get a feel of how heavy gold really was.
• Sam Phillips, in real life a pop singer, was invited to test for the role based upon a photo from one of her CD covers.
• The sex scene between Jeremy Irons and Sam Phillips was added in at the last minute because McTiernan knew that the film would get an R rating and he might as well put a sex scene in.
• The park on top of the Wall Street station in the film was a vacant lot that was made into a park for the film. It was turned back into a vacant lot after filming was completed.
• When posing as a city engineer, Simon Gruber (Jeremy Irons) uses a heavy American accent to fool his adversaries. The same trick was used by his brother Hans (Alan Rickman) in Die Hard.
• WILHELM SCREAM: As they are driving through the park Zeus asks McClane if he is aiming for the people, to which McClane replies, "No... maybe that mime." An abbreviated Wilhelm Scream can be heard immediately following the "No."
• Jeremy Irons replaced David Thewlis
• Sean Connery was John McTiernan's very first choice for the role of Simon Gruber. He turned down the role, saying that he didn't want to play such a diabolical villain.
• An early script that was rejected was eventually used for Speed 2: Cruise Control. On the DVD commentary director John McTiernan mentions the rejected idea of "doing it on a boat."