8 Dick Moves Filmmakers Used To Improve Actors' Performances

5. Hans Gruber Falls Earlier Than Planned

Is there a more iconic bad guy death than the one Hans Gruber suffered at the end of Die Hard? That slow motion fall from the top of Nakatomi Plaza is wonderful for many reasons, not the least of which is the look of surprise and terror on Gruber's dumb, bad guy face. How does an actor achieve that mix of shock and terror? Probably hours upon hours of staring at their face in the mirror. OR it's getting dropped nearly 70 feet for a free fall on a soundstage before you're ready for it. In the commentary for the Die Hard DVD, director John McTiernan casually mentions that he needed a look of genuine shock from Alan Rickman (as opposed to the "fake" shock that a classically trained actor would surely mess up). So instead of dropping him from his rig on the count of 3, which was the plan, he had him dropped him on 2. https://youtu.be/cnQEo4bazIo?t=55s