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Hans Gruber

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This article is about the Die Hard character. For other uses, see Hans Gruber (disambiguation).
Hans Gruber
Die Hard character
Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber in Die Hard
First appearanceDie Hard (1988)
Last appearanceDie Hard: Nakatomi Plaza (2002)
Created by
Based onAnton Gruber
by Roderick Thorp
Portrayed byAlan Rickman
In-universe information
AliasBill Clay
OccupationCriminal
AffiliationVolksfrei Movement (based on Red Army Faction)
(formerly)
WeaponHeckler & Koch P7 (semi-automatic pistol)
FamilySimon Gruber (brother; deceased)
ChildrenMarcel Gruber (son; deceased)
NationalityEast German

Hans Gruber is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the 1988 action film Die Hard, portrayed by Alan Rickman.

Gruber is a thief and criminal mastermind from East Germany who holds the Nakatomi Plaza hostage to steal $640 million in negotiable bearer bonds. His plan is foiled by New York cop John McClane, who happened upon Gruber's plot by mistake. Since his first appearance, Gruber has been cemented as one of the most iconic villains in film history – as well as often being ranked as the greatest action movie villain of all time and one of Rickman's most iconic roles. The villain became so popular with movie fans that the producers introduced his brother, Simon (played by Jeremy Irons), as the primary antagonist of the third film in the franchise – Die Hard with a Vengeance.[1]

Hans Gruber ranked 46th on AFI's list "100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains".[2]

Production

[edit]

Hans Gruber was the first major film role given to Alan Rickman. Rickman was cast after producer Joel Silver saw him during a Broadway run of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. A blue screen was used for the now infamous scene of Gruber's death. Rickman was to be dropped 40 feet (12 m), and was let go sooner than expected, causing the shocked look of fear on Gruber's face to be genuine. The first shot taken ended up being the one used in the movie. The scene where Gruber pretends to be an escaped hostage named Bill Clay was not originally included in the script, and was added once the production crew discovered that Rickman could pull off a convincing American accent. According to actor Hans Buhringer, who portrayed the criminal Fritz in the film, Rickman researched meticulously to perfect his German accent and was even able to achieve the German-English dialect throughout the film.[3][4][5][6][7]

Screenwriter Steven E. de Souza wrote the screenplay for Die Hard with the mindset of Gruber being the protagonist of the story. De Souza stated, "If he had not planned the robbery and put it together, Bruce Willis would have just gone to the party and reconciled or not with his wife. You should sometimes think about looking at your movie through the point of view of the villain who is really driving the narrative."[8]

Reception and legacy

[edit]

Gruber has gone on to become one of the most iconic villains in cinematic history and is often considered one of the greatest. Gruber was listed by Empire magazine as the 17th Greatest Movie Character of All Time out of 100, while John McClane placed 12th on the same list. Gruber also ranked No. 4 on Empire's list of the Greatest Movie Villains of All Time, only being beaten by Darth Vader, The Joker and Loki.[9][10] Gruber was also selected by the American Film Institute as #46 villain on AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains.[11] Gruber was listed by IGN as #14 of their top 100 villains.[12] Gruber would also go on to influence subsequent movie villains such as Howard Payne in Speed, Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom in Con Air, Eric Qualen in Cliffhanger and Egor Korshunov in Air Force One.[13][14][15][16][17][18][19] There was also a villain in the James Coburn film Our Man Flint named Hans Gruber but it is unknown if the Die Hard Gruber was an homage to that character.

Due to the popularity of Gruber, actor Alan Rickman ended up being cast as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in 1991, and was subsequently said to be typecast as villainous characters (despite playing other kinds of characters more frequently) until he portrayed the anti-hero Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series.[20][21][22][23][24]

Due to the film and the character's iconic status, Gruber has been referenced multiple times in popular culture. The police-comedy show Brooklyn Nine-Nine makes references to Gruber (and Die Hard itself) quite often, as the character of Jake Peralta cites Die Hard as his favorite film of all time. Episodes depict the cast going to Fox Plaza (which acted as the stand-in for Nakatomi Plaza in the film and where the majority of the film was shot) and re-enacting iconic scenes from the film, including Gruber's death, as well as a Christmas themed episode where Peralta is thrown into a "Die Hard-esque" scenario involving terrorists and hostages. Other shows such as The Office and Friends have also featured references to Gruber. In the ABC show American Housewife, a family pet pig was named Hans Gruber. Gruber's death was also briefly parodied in The Lego Batman Movie in a scene where Alfred Pennyworth seemingly falls to his death.[25] Gruber is also the subject of a parody video done by Funny Or Die in which Gruber negotiates via walkie talkie with Tropic Thunder character Les Grossman, played by Tom Cruise.[26] Gruber is the namesake for Texas-based punk rock band "Hans Gruber and the Die Hards", and was among the basis for the character Artemis Fowl II, the main antagonist of the book series of the same name, described by its author Eoin Colfer as "Die Hard with fairies".[27]

References

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  1. ^ Nathan, Micah (2016-01-15). "Celebrating the Brilliance of Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  2. ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains" (PDF). American Film Institute. 2005. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  3. ^ Power, Ed (2019-11-26). "Die Hard at 30: How the every-dude action movie defied expectations and turned Bruce Willis into a star". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-09. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  4. ^ Kirk, Jeremy (2011-07-19). "31 Things We Learned From the 'Die Hard' Commentary Track". Film School Rejects. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  5. ^ Failes, Ian (2018-08-13). "The Science Project That Resulted in 'Die Hard's Most Killer Stunt". Thrillist. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  6. ^ Marnell, Blair (2017-03-05). "DIE HARD Screenwriter Answers a Question We've Had for Years". Nerdist. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  7. ^ Mark, Jon (2016-01-15). "Alan Rickman Brought Hans Gruber's Real Origins To Life". Inquisitr. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  8. ^ Frazier, Dan (2015-08-24). ""There is no such thing as an action movie." Steven E. de Souza on Screenwriting". Creative Screenwriting. Archived from the original on 2015-09-15. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  9. ^ "4. Hans Gruber - The Greatest Villains Of All Time". Empire. 2019-07-30. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  10. ^ "17. Hans Gruber - The 100 Greatest Movie Characters". Empire. 2011-11-07. Archived from the original on 2011-11-07. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  11. ^ "AFI'S 100 YEARS... 100 HEROES & VILLAINS" (PDF). American Film Institute. 2014-03-28. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-03-28. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  12. ^ "Hans Gruber - #14 Top 100 Villains". IGN. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  13. ^ "In Praise of Hans Gruber, the Finest Villain of Our Time". Maxim. 2016-01-14. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  14. ^ "8 films that are basically Die Hard, from planes to trains and automobiles". Digital Spy. 2017-02-22. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  15. ^ Broeske, Pat H. (1994-06-12). "Death is Hard . . . Reincarnation Is Easy". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  16. ^ "10 Famous Movies That Copied the "Die Hard" Formula". Taste of Cinema. 2017-03-30. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  17. ^ Sully, Cameron (2019-10-10). "The Top 10 Hans Gruber Type Villains". The Action Elite. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  18. ^ Meyer, Joshua (2018-07-11). "The 9 Best and Worst 'Die Hard' Knock-Offs". /FILM. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  19. ^ George, Tim (2016-12-07). "Why Hans Gruber remains the greatest action movie villain of all time". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  20. ^ O'Sullivan, Michael (2016-01-14). "Alan Rickman never disappeared into a role. But that's what made him great". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  21. ^ "Here's Why Alan Rickman In 'Die Hard' Is The Best Movie Bad Guy Ever". LadBible. 2018-03-21. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  22. ^ "An Ode to Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber, Possibly the Greatest Screen Villain Ever". People. 2016-01-14. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  23. ^ Ritman, Alex (2015-04-16). "Alan Rickman on 'Die Hard' Role: "It's Shocking How Thrilling It Is to Shoot a Machine Gun"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  24. ^ Reyes, Mike (16 April 2015). "Why Alan Rickman Originally Wanted Nothing To Do With His Die Hard Role". CinemaBlend. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  25. ^ "30 pop-culture references that prove 'Die Hard' is as awesome as ever, 30 years later". USA Today. 2018-07-13. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  26. ^ "Les Grossman Destroys Hans Gruber In This Mash-Up". Funny Or Die. 2019-01-31. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  27. ^ "Hans Gruber and the Die Hards". Hans Gruber and the Die Hards. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
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