20 Things You Didn't Know About Die Hard

3. Alan Rickman's Reaction When Hans Falls To His Death Is Genuine Fear

Hans Gruber's brutal demise at the end of the movie is unforgettable for a number of reasons: the guy gets thrown several hundred feet out of a skyscraper window, it's shot in glorious slow-motion, Michael Kamen's dramatic musical score is awesome, and Alan Rickman's shocked facial expression is just perfect.

But McTiernan played a slightly mean trick on Rickman in order to evoke the desired response while shooting the scene. In reality, the actor was dropped from a 21-foot platform onto an air bag, with the background keyed in during post-production.

The stunt coordinator told Rickman that he'd drop him from the platform on the count of three, but ended up doing it on two, such that the shock on Rickman's face was effectively real, presumably thinking the stunt had gone wrong in some fashion.

And because McTiernan opted to shoot the stunt at 300 frames per second, he was able to make the most of Rickman's brilliantly terrified countenance by running it in super slow-mo for the movie.