12 Die Hard Easter Eggs You Probably Missed
2. All-American John McClane Is More German Than The Bad Guys
A lot of tension (and classic lines) in the original Die Hard come from All-American Hero John McClane versus Nasty German Hans Gruber. Alan Rickman's character sneers about Bruce Willis being a typical trigger-happy yankee who watched too many John Wayne movies growing up, heralding the “yipee-ki-yay, motherf*cker” quip.
That's repeated in Die Hard With A Vengeance, too, as John McClane tangles with Hans Gruber's younger brother, Simon, played by Jeremy Irons. Cue more “ugh, Americans” moans from the bad guy. Except that whole dynamic is actually just one long, ironic joke about Bruce Willis's background versus his various nemeses.
Both Alan Rickman and Jeremy Irons are English, primarily stage actors who are simply adept at doing goofy German accents. Bruce Willis, meanwhile, was born on March 19th 1955 in West Germany, to an American father and a German mother. John McClane is actually way more German than any of those dastardly German villains. Pretty hilarious.