Die Hard is widely regarded as one of the classics of action cinema and for good reason – it made Bruce Willis a star and showed groundbreaking action scenes. Since it’s release in 1988, it has spawned 3 financially successful sequels and 20th Century Fox is eager to acquire a director for the upcoming fifth installment. We previously reported over the weekend that John Moore (Max Payne) had been hired to direct but now it seems he is just one of four contenders. The other three on the shortlist are Joe Cornish (Attack The Block), Justin Lin (Fast Five) and Nicolas Wending Refn (Drive). [Deadline]
Should Cornish be chosen, it would be a huge leap in budget from his comparitively tiny debut Attack The Block but it does show that the positive reception he received on that film is getting him notice from the big companies and I doubt that this will be the first opportunity that crops up for him.
Justin Lin, however, is certainly no stranger to blockbuster productions. After recently helming Fast Five, he is attached to make the sequel to that movie and also has been chosen as the man to “revive” The Terminator franchise (a series that should be left alone, if you ask me) so he wouldn’t be uncomfortable in the director’s chair but he may not have the time.
Nicolas Winding Refn is a director with plenty of experience and having recently won the best director award for Drive at cannes, he is very much in demand right now. However, like Lin, he already has projects to work on and I would hope he has better judgement than to choose an unneccessary addition to the Die Hard series as he is a quality director and Fox would most likely butcher his creative style.
John Moore still seems the most likely to helm but it isn’t definite any longer. Bruce Willis shall return with the film to shoot in Russia and a predicted release date of 2012 (which seems doubtful now).
Who do you think would be the best director for the film? Are you looking forward to Die Hard 5?