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1. Who plays John McClane?
Bruce Willis
Willis was a television actor from Moonlighting, and the studio was so unsure of him that the first posters showed the building instead of his face. He was paid five million dollars, a huge sum at the time, and shot around his sitcom schedule.
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2. Who plays Hans Gruber?
Alan Rickman
It was Rickman's first film, at forty-one, after a career on the stage. Jeremy Irons played the villain in the third film.
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3. What's the building called?
Nakatomi Plaza
The headquarters of the Nakatomi Corporation, still unfinished on the upper floors, which is why there's so much plastic sheeting and so many exposed girders to crawl around in.
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4. What surname is McClane's wife using at work?
Gennaro, her maiden name
Holly went back to her maiden name when she took the job, which is why Hans doesn't connect her to the cop in the vents until late on. It also means McClane can't be found by his own name on the staff list.
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5. What are the thieves really after?
$640 million in bearer bonds
Hans poses as a terrorist so the authorities will cut the power, which opens the last lock on the vault for him. 'Who said we were terrorists?' he asks, when the plan finally shows.
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6. What does McClane write on the dead man he sends down in the lift?
"Now I have a machine gun. Ho-ho-ho."
On the man's sweatshirt, in marker, with a Santa hat on his head. It's the first time Hans realises that the problem isn't the police.
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7. Who plays Sergeant Al Powell, the cop on the radio?
Reginald VelJohnson
Powell is buying Twinkies for his pregnant wife when the call comes in, and he becomes the voice McClane talks to all night. VelJohnson went on to play another cop, in Family Matters, for nine seasons.
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8. What piece of music keeps turning up, and plays as the vault opens?
Beethoven's "Ode to Joy"
Hans hums it, and the composer Michael Kamen wove it through the score, having first resisted using Beethoven at all.
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9. Where was the film shot?
Fox Plaza, the studio's own tower in Century City
The studio's own new headquarters, still partly empty, which it rented to the production. Executives worked on the lower floors while the upper ones were shot up, and the building has appeared in films ever since.
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10. Who's the limo driver who waits in the garage all night?
Argyle
He spends the film in the limousine with the music up, missing everything until the end. Theo is the thieves' hacker, Karl the brother out for revenge, and Uli the one with a sweet tooth.
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11. Which colleague of Holly's tries to negotiate with Hans and regrets it?
Ellis
'Hans, bubby, I'm your white knight.' It doesn't go well. Takagi is the executive who refuses to give up the vault code, and Thornburg is the television reporter.
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12. What are the two FBI agents who take over called?
Johnson and Johnson, no relation
'Agent Johnson, and this is Special Agent Johnson. No relation.' Their plan to cut the power is exactly what Hans was counting on.
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13. The film is based on a novel called...
Nothing Lasts Forever
Roderick Thorp's 1979 book, a sequel to The Detective, which had been filmed with Frank Sinatra. Sinatra was contractually offered this one first and passed, at seventy-three. 58 Minutes is the novel the second film came from.
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14. Which Christmas song plays over the end credits?
"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"
Vaughn Monroe's 1945 recording, with the tower still smoking behind the credits. Run-DMC's 'Christmas in Hollis' is the song Argyle plays in the limo at the start.
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15. How did the director get Alan Rickman's look of real fear in his fall?
He was dropped before the count he had been promised
Rickman was told he would be released on three and was let go on one, from about twenty feet onto an airbag. The expression on his face is the one in the film.
