20 Things You Somehow Missed In Die Hard
12. 20th Century Fox Headquarters Gets Bombed
Die Hard was filmed at a time when 20th Century Fox had entered a prosperous new era after the economic strain caused by numerous flops (including 1963's Cleopatra), which had led it to sell a significant portion of Century City in Los Angeles. As a symbol of its newfound good fortune, the company built Fox Plaza, which remains its headquarters.
Needing a location for the fictional Nakatomi Plaza in Die Hard, the studio offered up its newly-constructed headquarters and even charged itself rent for the use of the building! As a result, Die Hard was actually filmed on location at Fox Plaza with the exception of some miniature effects work and the Nakatomi Christmas party scenes.
However, if readers consider that the miniature effects were employed solely for the explosions that were meant to take place in and around Nakatomi Plaza, then that is not entirely true. Several sequences involving explosions inside and immediately around the building were staged on location; in particular, for the sequence in which John McClane hurls C-4 explosives down a lift shaft, killing two of Gruber's men and resulting in the side of the building being blown out, director John McTiernan arranged for a vast array of lights to be affixed to the side of Fox Plaza to simulate the glare of the explosion, before adding the flames optically in post-production.
Naturally, Fox didn't want the new jewel in its crown being damaged by explosions during filming.