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Someone Bought a Full Page Ad In The Hollywood Reporter to Pitch a Surprisingly Brilliant 'Die Hard: Year One'

By Vivian Kane | Miscellaneous | November 11, 2015 |

By Vivian Kane | Miscellaneous | November 11, 2015 |



For people trying to break into the film business, Los Angeles can feel like (mostly because it is) a giant ocean, crammed full of a billion big fish, along with ten times as many little fish, all more than willing to go cannibalistic to get their start. So reading about a Hail Mary of a gimmick like that of Eric Wilkinson, a screenwriter who must have taken a significant chunk out of his bank account in order to purchase a full page ad in the Hollywood Reporter, which he then used as an open letter pitch for his idea for Die Hard 6.

A Die Hard origin story is already reportedly in development, and Wilkinson, as he says in his letter, has an idea that will give us a young rebooted McCane, while also giving us back the “old John McClane.” Which, as he sees it, means “No surfing on trucks. No jumping off the wings of harrier jets. No car chases with supersize sport utility vehicles driving ON TOP of traffic. Ordinary man. Extraordinary circumstances.”

If you can’t decipher the tweet-sized image there, you can read the full pitch over at the AV Club. But to sum it up, Die Hard: Year One starts with a 60-year-old John McClane being carted off to prison. A flashback to 1979 shows us a 24-year-old McClane (start your fan casting now) investigating the murder of a little boy. Being the rogue he is, McClane does something to cause the only suspect to go free. 34 years later, that suspect turns up dead with evidence linking his murder to McClane. Our hero is sent to prison, and one mega-riot and a couple terrorists later, BOOM. Instant classic.

This kind of gimmick is a total gamble, because the internet is fickle and you never know what’s going to catch hold. Luckily for Wilkinson, this stunt has gotten a lot of traction, which probably has equal parts to do with it being a funny story and, at the same time, a movie I TOTALLY WANT TO WATCH RIGHT NOW.

Via AV Club.