12 Die Hard Easter Eggs You Probably Missed
6. Hans Gruber Was Named After A Villain In An Old Spy Film
Die Hard saw a wave of copycat action films, which either cast clumsy schmucks in the role usually taken by traditional action heroes (as with The Last Boy Scout, also starring Willis) or copping the idea of thrillers set in confined spaces (Under Siege is essentially Die Hard On A Boat). That's just the nature of the movie business.
Something makes big bucks, everyone wants in on it. It's happening now with superhero films; back in the day, it happened with spy films, with every producer worth his salt producing a James Bond knock-off in the sixties. One of the better was Our Man Flint, starring James Coburn battling against an evil espionage organisation.
An organisation run by a villain called... Hans Gruber. Yep, one of the most iconic villains in movie history originally appeared in a film designed to cash in on 007. That's what he was called in Nothing Lasts Forever, the book Die Hard was based on, and the character himself was apparently based on author Roderick Thorp's tyrannical father.