In the first Die Hard, Bruce Willis’ John McClane New York cop character was a fish out of water while visiting his wife in Los Angeles. That formula was repeated in A Good Day to Die Hard, and could play a role in Die Hard 6 if the film in its current iteration comes to pass.
Total Film is reporting that British writer Ben Trebilcook (Knockout, unused treatment of Live Free or Die Hard called Die Hardest) is currently penning a treatment for Die Hard 6 that will begin in New York City before shifting much of the film’s time to Tokyo, Japan. Trebilcook likens his in-progress treatment of the film to “be the Rocky Balboa of the Die Hard franchise,” which could mean it’s the final curtain call for John McClane. Ironically this new treatment is also called Die Hardest.
It’s important to note that at this stage, there is no involvement from the studio (Fox), Bruce Willis or key Die Hard producer Alex Young. There’s the potential for Young and his other producers to look at the treatment and decide to go a completely different direction. Right now, Trebilcook has the blessing of A Good Day to Die Hard consulting producer Larry D. Webster to pen the Die Hard 6 treatment.
One of the biggest complaints about A Good Day to Die Hard is the film didn’t feel more like a generic action flick and less like a Die Hard film. Trebilcook might be addressing that concern in an indirect way with his statement to Total Film, “It (Die Hard 6) is extremely faithful to the franchise and characters, and is a natural progression. It’s also a very plausible storyline.”
Source: Total Film
