DIE HARD - story breakdown
Screenwriting Tricks for Authors
I’ve had another request for a breakdown of Die Hard. And how can I refuse? It’s one of the greatest action films ever made. A thriller so iconic that it spawned its own subgenre of action films: “Die Hard on/in a bus, plane, ship, mountain, etc.” It cannily doubled its potential audience by giving its hero a witty and roughly charming vulnerability — and giving women and men inclined toward men not just one steamy male lead, but three: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, and ballet star Alexander Gudenov.
I always urge writers to study classic films both in and out of their own genres, because the story elements are the same across all genres, and you may just learn more from something outside your genre.
The first Act of Die Hard is a textbook of compression —it’s worth studying just that much to learn how to set up a genre book or a film. And it’s consistently listed as one of the Top Ten on favorite Christmas movie lists, so why not add it to our holiday movie repertoire? To those who dispute its Christmas qualifications, I say that Alan Rickman’s Cary Grant-level elegance alone makes it a satisfying Christmas movie for me. But it’s also set on Christmas Eve, works the practical complications of the holiday into the plot, and features tons of Christmas music, from the Nutcracker Suite to Run DMC.
If you’re new to the Three-Act, Eight-Sequence structure of film and how to use it to write novels, I suggest reading these posts on the history of the structure and about the Story Elements found in very much the same places of every book and film:
There is much more, and ten full breakdowns of classic and popular movies, in each of the workbooks
Let’s look at the amazingly packed SET UP of Sequence 1.
Happy almost New Year!!
- Alex
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Die Hard - 1988
Written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza
Based on the novel Nothing Lasts Forever, by Roderick Thorp
Directed by John McTiernan
Running time: 132 minutes
OPENING IMAGE: Good filmmakers use the first frames of a movie to set theme, tone, genre and/or whatever they want to plant in the audience’s head to put them inside the film.
In Die Hard, the first thing we experience is a jarring shriek of aircraft engine over a black screen to create an ominous genre TONE, then we FADE IN to a passenger plane landing at LAX in a hazy red sunset — more genre! Not the most gripping Opening Image but it works in its way.
On the plane is protagonist JOHN McLANE (Bruce Willis) – first seen gripping his armrest so hard his businessman seatmate notices John doesn’t like flying and bizarrely recommends making barefoot fists with his toes on carpet to lose the stress and prevent jet lag. (This is a big PLANT, or SET UP, that will PAY OFF later.) The dialogue between the men is wry and funny – establishing John’s wit and an easy way with other people, and also relaxing the audience right away with its self-assurance and tone – this is going to be fun. As passengers gather their carry-ons, we learn several other things about John very quickly: when he stands, the businessman notices the service weapon at his hip and John assures him it’s okay, he’s a cop. (SPECIAL SKILLS/POWERS). John then removes a giant stuffed bear from the overhead, setting up a soft heart and family focus. The hot flight attendant gives him a very steamy once-over as she passes, establishing his attraction to women. Or maybe she’s just into bears.
Now, let me point out one structural thing right up front. In the majority of books and films, we first see the HEROINE in their ORDINARY WORLD, and once their ordinary life is set up and the INCITING INCIDENT triggers their OUTER DESIRE, they begin the journey INTO THE SPECIAL WORLD. In Die Hard, the story begins with INTO THE SPECIAL WORLD, which as in many stories is a multi-leveled entry consisting of several scenes.
John’s ORDINARY WORLD is established within these scenes, through dialogue, photos, and an upcoming scene with his wife, Holly. Die Hard is a very good example of how to bypass a long set up and get straight into the action. But it accomplishes this not by cutting out the elements of setup— rather it layers those elements into a complex INTO THE SPECIAL WORLD sequence.
In baggage claim John smokes while waiting for luggage (how times have changed…). There is faintly ominous music on the soundtrack. As a bouncy blond couple athletically embraces, a startled John mutters, “F—in’ California.” This establishes he’s not on his turf - he’s a fish out of water. Making the Hero an Underdog, even at this low level, helps create general suspense and tension in a thriller. It’s also important to establish early on that John talks to himself, which he will be doing through most of the movie.
CUT TO: a high-end company party in a multi-level office suite. There is a huge Christmas tree, a waterfall, a live quartet playing classical Christmas music, caterers circling with champagne and appetizers. The urbane boss, Joseph Takagi, addresses his employees from the open staircase, toasting the greatest year in the history of the Nakatomi Corporation.
In a corridor, we meet HOLLY GENNERO (Bonnie Bedelia), John’s wife and the LOVE INTEREST (also part of the hero’s TEAM). She is followed by an obnoxious co-worker, HARRY ELLIS, who is hitting on her, obviously not for the first time. (LOVE PLOT RIVAL/SECONDARY ANTAGONIST, though a very weak one.) Holly deflects expertly, reminding him it’s Christmas Eve: “Families? Christmas carols?” This establishes her family focus (same as John’s). Her pink satin blouse and curly hair are very feminine, and to make all this maternal, feminine energy even more blatant, her assistant Ginny is extremely pregnant. In her office. Holly urges Ginny to stop working and join the party, then phones her nanny, Paulina, and speaks to her daughter. Lucy asks “Is Daddy coming home soon?” and Holly answers ambiguously. Holly is disturbed to learn from the nanny that John hasn’t called in, but she asks Paulina to make up the spare room just in case. Paulina says she’s already done it, obviously rooting for the couple to reconcile. Holly looks at the photo of herself, John and the children on her shelf – and turns it face down, showing her annoyance, but also a PLANT.
Back at LAX, exiting baggage claim, John finds a driver waiting for him: ARGYLE, an important ALLY/SIDEKICK (More ASSEMBLING THE TEAM.)
Argyle and John drive out into the LA sunset in the limo (another level of INTO THE SPECIAL WORLD). John sits up front with him (he’s not pretentious, a man of the people) and young, hip, irrepressible Argyle keeps up a steady stream of chat. Argyle confesses it’s his first time driving a limo and John answers it’s his first time riding in one. As Argyle expertly draws him out, we learn John is an NYPD detective, but his wife Holly has moved to California to pursue her high-powered business career, taking their children with her. (There is a ton of EXPOSITION here about John’s ORDINARY WORLD, but the chemistry between John and Argyle is so good it doesn’t feel forced). Argyle wonders why John hasn’t followed Holly and John says defensively that he can’t just pack up and leave his work. It’s clearly a very raw WOUND (HERO’S GHOST): He feels emasculated by Holly’s work. (Thankfully the U.S. has evolved past all that patriarchal horseshit — Oh. Wait…)
So John’s INNER NEED, not at all disguised, is to win his wife back—which the movie will allow him to do in a most manly way.
All of that in just seven minutes!
(7:22) As the limo approaches Nakatomi Plaza (still at sunset!) we see Nakatomi Tower for the first time, looming over the city. This is the introduction to the movie’s CASTLE (link) and NON-HUMAN ANTAGONIST). The Castle of a book or film is usually the setting of Act III, but a story will often cut frequently to action in the Castle before the Hero/ine actually arrives to do battle there (see The Wizard of Oz, Silence of the Lambs). In Die Hard, almost the entire action of the film is set in the Castle, and the filmmakers do a fantastic job of making every part of it visually interesting.
There is a beautiful shot as the limo drives in to Nakatomi Plaza and pulls up to the building with the sunset peaking, There is a mythic quality to the imagery here: the carriage is delivering the hero to the CASTLE GATES. Do not for one second think this mythic imagery is accidental! Good filmmakers know exactly what they’re doing to plant these subconscious images in their audience’s heads and infuse a larger-than-life meaning into the story. (More INTO THE SPECIAL WORLD).
As John gets out of the car, Argyle asks if he has a place to stay that night. John is hoping Holly will ask him to stay with her and the kids. Argyle gets a beautiful line here to voice John’s INNER DESIRE: “I see how this goes. Your lady sees you, the music comes up, she runs into your arms and you live happily ever after, right?” John replies dryly and truthfully, “I can live with that.”
See why I’m always saying – SPELL IT OUT? You need to say these things out loud (on the page) so that the reader/audience knows what to WANT for the Hero/ine. The above exchange is a charming way to do just that.
And then Argyle says, presciently, something like: “Look, I’ll park in the parking lot until you see what’s what. You can call me and let me know if I can go, or you can crash with me tonight.” A lovely FAIRY TALE moment of KINDNESS FROM A STRANGER on the Hero’s Journey, and an important PLANT: Argyle is there on site to call on later. This crucial scene also serves the function of a GUARDIAN AT THE GATE moment: There is already a sense of danger about entering this Castle.
I cannot say strongly enough how much this moment of hesitation before entering does for an INTO THE SPECIAL WORLD scene. Make a point of watching for the GUARDIAN AT THE GATE scene in every movie you happen to watch— and you’ll start to understand how useful it can be to your storytelling. (Check out the story breakdowns in both workbooks—I’ll always point out this scene!).
Stealing Hollywood, also available as print workbook
There’s another level of INTO THE SPECIAL WORLD as John moves through the glass doors of the building and up to the guard desk. (Moving through several doorways or gates is very common in this sequence — see Silence of the Lambs and Harry Potter (in the workbooks). And there’s another GUARDIAN AT THE GATE moment as John has trouble checking in with the computer that lists the company employees and discovers Holly is not listed under McLane, but under her “maiden” name, Gennaro. This is disturbing to John, as it triggers his WOUND. But I’d like to point out that Holly using her own name instead of his actually keeps her safe for a good deal of the action. Get over it, John!
The cheerful SECURITY GUARD tells John there is only one floor still occupied that night, by the Nakatomi Company employee Christmas party. John can take the elevator up and just listen for the sounds. This sets up the guard is not being overly cautious about who he lets in to the building – a mistake that will prove fatal to him.
10:17 — John walks a long corridor toward the elevator (more INTO THE SPECIAL WORLD) whistling “Jingle Bells.” (Unlike Ellis, John knows tonight is for Christmas carols.) He notices several security cameras and another GUARD who doesn’t even look him over as he passes. John has “cop eyes”: he’s always hypervigilant to surroundings (SPECIAL SKILLS). Without anything happening, it all feels rather ominous.
In the parking structure, Argyle parks, blasting rap music.
11 minutes: the elevator doors open, letting John straight into the party, now in full, inebriated swing. John again seems like a fish out of water with the crowd, the classical music, the enthusiastic kiss on the cheek he gets from a partying male guest. “F***in’ California,” he swears, for the second time. He stops an elegant partygoer to ask where he can find Holly Gennero. It’s Mr. Takagi, who introduces himself and says, “You must be John.” Their chat SETS UP several important points for later, including that the floors above them are all still under construction.
Takagi leads John to Harry Ellis’s office where Ellis is sneaking a line of coke. Their ANTAGONISM is established as John brushes his own nose, saying, “You missed some.” (It’s an effective technique to show antagonists and rivals as opposites of the hero/ine.) Through the wide office windows we can see lights all over the city (it’s still sunset!) and the view emphasizes how cut off the building is from the rest of the city.
Ellis belligerently tells John they closed a big deal today, mostly due to Holly. He may be all wrong for Holly but he sure knows how to get under John’s skin.
Holly walks in, not realizing John is there. She stops mid-stride and there is a star-struck look between them, across the room— a not-too-far-off version of the fairy tale Argyle described. These are two people very much in love. (LOVE PLOT). She finally regains her senses and walks across the room to kiss him on the cheek. Ellis aggressively tells her to show John the Rolex she got from the company for closing the big deal. John replies pointedly, “I’m sure I’ll see it later.” (Ooh, burn! - TRIANGLE). The Rolex is a TALISMAN – a symbolic object. The watch represents the hold that Holly’s work has on her – an obstacle keeping her and John apart. It’s a PLANT that will come back later in a key scene — and obviously, it’s a really regressive little tidbit. The scene ends with John asking Holly if there’s a place he can wash up.
14 minutes in: CUT TO: STREET. The downtown street is deserted (Christmas Eve) and washed in red. Ominous music plays as a large truck drives toward Nakatomi Plaza.
In the tower, John washes up in an executive bathroom, stripped to the white tank top and gray chinos that will become his iconic SUPERHERO COSTUME (yes, really – think about it! The unique costume of a character goes a long, long way to creating a classic character).
Holly sits on the counter outside and the two talk through the open door, a very relaxed, intimate scene that shows the ORDINARY WORLD of their marriage that both clearly want to get back to. John notes possessively that Ellis “has his eye on you.” Holly says, “That’s okay, I have my eye on his private bathroom.” (Holly’s OUTER DESIRE - her ambition.) Holly changes the subject and offers John the spare bedroom of her house and tells him the kids would love it if he stayed over. She adds, “I would, too.” As their eyes meet in a longing look, the scene is interrupted by a frisky couple looking for a place to have office party sex. When the couple exits, John and Holly resume their conversation, and Holly confesses throatily,“I missed you.” Instead of gratefully taking the cue, John starts a fight over her name change: “I guess you didn’t miss my name, though.” Instantly they’re arguing again. Holly says bitterly and with the ring of absolute truth that she knows exactly what his expectations of her in the marriage were. (MARITAL GHOST). And again they are interrupted, by Holly’s assistant, saying that Takagi wants Holly to address the troops.
Holly exits, and left alone, John thumps his forehead against the wall, looks in the mirror and berates himself out loud for his stupidity. “Great, John, very mature.”
And outside, the big truck arrives at Nakatomi Plaza and enters through a back access, first joining and rolling parallel with a gray luxury sedan headed for the front of the building, then the truck heads down a ramp past a prominent sign reading Do Not Enter.
Now, you could call the fight between Holly and John and the arrival of the truck and sedan the CLIMAX of SEQUENCE ONE, at 17 minutes. (Thematically, the truck and its villainous passengers will provide a solution to the problems in the marriage!)
A whole hell of a lot has been expertly set up, and though we don’t know who’s inside the truck yet, we understand that the truck is going to be a threat.
Sequence Two will show us that threat unfolding in detail.
Sequence One has been all about the protagonist, and Sequence Two will focus on the Antagonist and his Team.
It’s helpful to read this post on Villains, if you haven’t already!
But I can also make a very strong case that the next couple of scenes belong in this longer-than-average Sequence One. Let’s look.
Downstairs in the lobby, the security guard looks up from behind the desk as the gray sedan which arrived with the truck pulls up, and two men walk up to the front glass doors: KARL and THEO. The guard doesn’t look too concerned. Theo is chattering non-stop about basketball as they walk through the door and across the lobby to the desk and without warning Karl pulls a gun and kills the security guard. Theo jumps over the desk and goes into the back office to access the computer system, while Karl strides toward the elevators and shoots the other guard.
Die Hard does a very good job of distinguishing its HENCHMEN. These first two we see, who are the main henchmen and SECONDARY OPPONENTS, are completely OPPOSITE in looks and personality from the very first glance: Theo is shortish, talkative, confident, Black, with very short hair and glasses, wearing a white t-shirt under a tweedy jacket. Karl is tall, extremely Nordic, long haired, dressed all in black, deadly silent and instantly violent. It’s a very deft set up and they are immediately distinguished from the rest of the pack.
Now we cut back and forth between the lobby and the parking garage.
In the parking garage, the back of the truck opens and a whole crew of men pours out, flanking one elegant man in a suit and a luxury overcoat. (Note how beautifully that overcoat flows around him when he walks, almost like a villain’s cape…) This is HANS GRUBER, the Antagonist, and his crew. Surrounding the villain with henchmen is a quick way to establish the power of the villain, and the more henchmen, the more powerful the antagonist. Also, try to cast someone even half as good as the incomparable Alan Rickman. The story is that Rickman convinced the writers and director to redesign the role to play to his strengths of urbanity and sophistication, rather than the militaristic character in the original script.
Inside the lobby, Karl sets off a flash bomb to lure the other guard and shoots him. Theo darts into the office behind the guard desk and gets onto the computer; he locks the doors of the building, and locks the elevators below the 29th floor, and lowers the gates to seal off the parking lot. (SPECIAL SKILLS of SECONDARY OPPONENT. Also, note that as he works, Theo is humming Singin’ in the Rain, an extremely ominous reference to a horrific scene in the classic Clockwork Orange, which should tip those in the know off that these are really bad guys and make us fear for the hostages. Also this scene continues the castle/fortress IMAGERY, with the lowering of the gates like the raising of a medieval drawbridge in a historical movie.
Cut to outside: we see the tower, lit up at night.
I think that the last few scenes are still part of Sequence 1, and Sequence 2 begins with that cut to the tower at night – making the killing of the security guard and the breeching of the building the CLIMAX of Sequence 1, and starting Sequence 2 with the elevator doors opening and Gruber and his men invading the party.
In fact, the lowering of the gates is visually very like a curtain going down on Sequence 1 (imagery you sometimes see directors using to delineate sequences – see my breakdown of Chinatown, in Stealing Hollywood. Filmmakers also often use a cut to the same kind of exterior shot we see of the tower, here, to delineate sequences (see discussion of Act and Sequence Bridges, Chapter 36 of Stealing Hollywood.) And the elevator doors opening and Gruber stepping out into the lobby with his men behind him is like a curtain going up on Sequence 2.
On the other hand, from the truck entering the parking lot of the building and the villains pouring out, the action is near-continuous, so it feels more like the beginning of a new Sequence with its own propulsive energy. And you could say Sequence 1 is all about John, the protagonist, then Sequence 2 is mostly about Gruber, the antagonist, and his team.
The point is, there’s no carved in stone, right or wrong about sequence and act designations. You can look at it in whatever way is most useful to you.
But what do you think?
Either way you break it, it’s all a jam-packed, character-driven SET UP that has thoroughly invested us in the almost continuous action to come.
Whew! Did I miss anything?
—Alex
Go on to Sequence 2 breakdown
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I used Die Hard as an example of, well, almost every screenwriting concept and was amazed how well it worked. Thank you for such a comprehensive and thoughtful analysis!
We rewatched this at the start of December. Such fun and so expert. We then watched II and it paled by comparison. Die Hard really knew how to play the mythic elements.