Alan Rickman Nearly Rejected His Iconic ‘Die Hard’ Role After Reading the Script

Die Hard without Alan Rickman? For fans of the now-iconic film, the idea may be hard to fathom, but it came close to happening. The actor almost passed on the role of villain Hans Gruber. He once admitted to initially being perplexed by the idea of starring in an action movie. Ultimately, of course, Rickman signed on, and later, felt proud of its discretely “revolutionary” approach. Plus, he also suggested a script change that turned out to be a memorable Die Hard moment.  

Alan Rickman asked 1 question after reading the ‘Die Hard’ script

During a 2015 BAFTA Life in Pictures event celebrating his career, Rickman, who died in January 2016, opened up about Die Hard. He confessed the film industry had been new to him, saying: “I didn’t know anything about LA. I didn’t know anything about the film business … I’d never made a film before,” (via The Hollywood Reporter). 

Then the theater-trained actor received the script and he was less than impressed. “I read it and I said, ‘What the hell is this? I’m not doing an action movie.’” Meanwhile, others were encouraging him to do it. 

“Agents and people said: ‘Alan, you don’t understand, this doesn’t happen. You’ve only been in L.A. two days, and you’ve been asked to do this film,’” he recalled. 

Alan came up with the idea for Hans Gruber to wear suits in ‘Die Hard’ 

Rickman eventually signed on for Die Hard despite his initial thoughts about being in an action movie. He even called himself an “extremely cheap” addition to the cast. 

Remember, at the time he’d been new to film. Playing Severus Snape in the Harry Potter franchise wouldn’t happen for another 13 years. Whereas his co-star, Bruce Willis’s Die Hard payday totaled a reported $5 million.

After joining the cast, Rickman put his stamp on the Gruber character. He suggested the villain wear suits in place of “terrorist gear.” 

“I was just thinking: If I was wearing a suit and not all of this terrorist gear, then maybe there could be a scene where I put on an American accent, and he thinks I’m one of the hostages,” Rickman said. 

He put the idea down on paper, leaving a note for producer Joel Silver. “Then I went back to England, and I kind of got the Joel Silver: ‘Get the hell out of here, you’ll wear what you’re told,’” Rickman recalled. 

After responding with, “‘OK, fine,’” he returned to the set only to realize Silver actually took his suggestion. “I came back and they handed me the new script,” Rickman said. “So, you know, it just pays to occasionally use a little bit of theater training when you’re doing a movie.”

Alan Rickman appreciated how ‘Die Hard’ represented black characters in a ‘revolutionary’ way

Looking back on the 1988 film, it occurred to Rickman Die Hard wasn’t simply an action movie. Sure, it had explosions and stunts, but it was also ahead of its time. “Every single black character in that film is positive and highly intelligent,” he said. “So, 28 years ago, that’s quite revolutionary, and quietly so.” 

Elsewhere in his Die Hard reflection, Rickman shared he’d felt nervous to hold a gun. “If you look carefully, you’ll see me blinking,” he said. However, once he got used to playing his character, Rickman came to learn something about himself. “It is shocking how thrilling it is to shoot a machine gun, that I discovered,” he revealed. 

See Rickman’s Die Hard performance by streaming the film, which is available on Hulu at the time of writing.