The day Bruce Willis almost died on the set of Die Hard

During filming of Hard to kill (1988), film directed by John McTiernan that would launch a career Bruce Willis as an action star in hollywoodthe production team thought that Bruce Willis had died while performing action scene.

According to information from NMEthe book The Last Action Heroes: The Triumphs, Flops, And Feuds of Hollywood’s Kings Of Carnagewritten by Nick de Semlyentells some interesting behind-the-scenes details of the feature film.

In an excerpt from the work, it is said how the team of Hard to kill feared that Bruce Willis had been killed in a botched scene. Released in the United States (still without a forecast to arrive in Brazil), the book is described as a “backstage story of the action heroes who ruled hollywood in the 1980s and 1990s.”

The scene in question was filmed early in production, in case willis become disabled or worse. That is, the studio could do a redesign if the worst happened. For the filming, the actor was forced to throw himself off a ledge and onto a mattress while huge explosions took place.

“While she waited, wringing her hands and wearing only a pair of black pants, a white fire hose was wrapped around her bare midriff, a Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun hung from a strap around her neck, and a viscous gel smeared over her skin. exposed skin,” wrote the author.

It is worth highlighting how this “viscous gel” was applied to prevent Bruce Willis catch fire. “When I landed, everyone came running up to me and I thought they were going to say, ‘Good job! Hey boy!’ And what they were doing was seeing if I was alive because I almost missed the mattress,” recalled the actor.