Yippee-ki-yay, M*****F*****

I was watching one of my favorite movies the other night, Die Hard, and they let loose a little info that I wasn't aware of. Bruce Willis got the John McClane role only after it was turned down by Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Burt Reynolds and Richard Gere. Sure, if Willis had never been in the role, I may have still liked the movie (and it's doubtful that I would have thought "Gee, you know who would be perfect for this part? Bruce Willis), but I think the producers really dodged a bullet on this one. Willis was perfect for the role of a world-weary cop completely in over his head who rises to the challenge. Based on his character's in movies like Heat (not the Pacino/De Niro one) and Sharky's Machine, I think Reynolds is the only one of the four to pull it off. Stallone could do weary (think Cobra), but you never get the feeling he's in over his head. The closest he came was in Cop Land, and that's because he was in over his head mentally, and he can play dumb with the best of them. Schwarzenegger couldn't have done it at all. He's such a larger than life character. I mean could you imagine him not crushing Karl in a second instead of having a knock down drag-out fight? Karl was played by some ballet dancer whose previous role was an orchestra conductor in The Money Pit. But at least he was taller than Willis to make the fight seem possible. Besides, how could Arnold fit in the air ducts? Richard Gere? The American Gigolo? What the Hell were they thinking? He wasn't even believable as a cop in Internal Affairs. I can't imagine Gere as John McClane. Although on a side note, I do wonder why he turned it down. Would they not allow gerbils on the set?