Jun 11, 2026 · 1 hr 15 min · 17 segments
With Amy reporting from Cannes, Paul welcomes Jorma Taccone for a Dealer’s Choice episode on Die Hard 2, the explosive sequel that takes John McClane to a snowbound airport under siege. Together they…
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Paul ScheerHostJorma TacconeGuest
20th Century Fox is looking to capitalize on the massive, unexpected success of Die Hard, and they want to do it in a big way, right? The original film, which we did on the show a few Christmases ago, directed by John McTiernan, is this tight contained thriller set in Los Angeles, and it blends vulnerability, humor, and brutality, and it makes it an instantly iconic film.
So the question becomes, how do you follow that up without just repeating it? And the answer comes from an unlikely place, a novel called 58 Minutes by Walter Wager, which is a sequel to another book adapted into a Frank Sinatra movie, which if you don't remember, uh, Die Hard was also a Frank Sinatra film.
Um, now, the script is reworked to center on John McClane, a slightly more seasoned, still very irritated New York cop who finds himself in another contained nightmare, this time at Dulles International Airport on Christmas Eve.
Now instead of one building, it's an entire airport locked down by terrorists who seize control of the air traffic control systems, trapping planes in the sky with dwindling fuel.
The director this time is Renny Harlin, a Finnish filmmaker coming off A Nightmare on Elm Street 4.
He brings a much slicker, more explosive, and a much more stylized sensibility than McTiernan's grounded approach.
His salary jumps to about 7.5 million, one of the highest at the time, signaling his arrival as a full-blown action star.
Bonnie Bedelia is back as Holly McClane, though now she is physically separated from John for most of the film, stuck circling above the chaos in one of those planes.
The villains are led by Colonel Stuart, played by William Sadler, a colder, more militaristic antagonist compared to Hans Gruber's theatrical elegance.
John Amos as a no-nonsense army major, Dennis Franz as the airport police chief, Fred Thompson as the air traffic control boss, and William Atherton returning as the smarmy reporter, Richard "Dick" Thornburg.
Uh, the movie leans harder into scale, bigger explosions, more bodies, more chaos, and it famously includes a sequence where an entire plane crashes in flames.
Die Hard 2 is released on July 4th weekend 1990, positioning it as a quintessential summer blockbuster rather than a sleeper hit like the original.
It is a major box office success, making around $240 million worldwide, proving that John McClane isn't a one-time thing.
Now, you're the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time.
[laughs] Story of my life.
And I'll play this, like, clip from John Amos, which I'll send you, Harry, which is like, "You're the wrong guy at the wrong place at the wrong time." He's like, "Story of my life." And that simply becomes a genre shorthand, a pitch format that will echo through the entire decade.
20th Century Fox is looking to capitalize on the massive, unexpected success of Die Hard, and they want to do it in a big way, right? The original film, which we did on the show a few Christmases ago, directed by John McTiernan, is this tight contained thriller set in Los Angeles, and it blends vulnerability, humor, and brutality, and it makes it an instantly iconic film.
So the question becomes, how do you follow that up without just repeating it? And the answer comes from an unlikely place, a novel called 58 Minutes by Walter Wager, which is a sequel to another book adapted into a Frank Sinatra movie, which if you don't remember, uh, Die Hard was also a Frank Sinatra film.
Um, now, the script is reworked to center on John McClane, a slightly more seasoned, still very irritated New York cop who finds himself in another contained nightmare, this time at Dulles International Airport on Christmas Eve.
Now instead of one building, it's an entire airport locked down by terrorists who seize control of the air traffic control systems, trapping planes in the sky with dwindling fuel.
The director this time is Renny Harlin, a Finnish filmmaker coming off A Nightmare on Elm Street 4.
He brings a much slicker, more explosive, and a much more stylized sensibility than McTiernan's grounded approach.
His salary jumps to about 7.5 million, one of the highest at the time, signaling his arrival as a full-blown action star.
Bonnie Bedelia is back as Holly McClane, though now she is physically separated from John for most of the film, stuck circling above the chaos in one of those planes.
The villains are led by Colonel Stuart, played by William Sadler, a colder, more militaristic antagonist compared to Hans Gruber's theatrical elegance.
John Amos as a no-nonsense army major, Dennis Franz as the airport police chief, Fred Thompson as the air traffic control boss, and William Atherton returning as the smarmy reporter, Richard "Dick" Thornburg.
Uh, the movie leans harder into scale, bigger explosions, more bodies, more chaos, and it famously includes a sequence where an entire plane crashes in flames.
Die Hard 2 is released on July 4th weekend 1990, positioning it as a quintessential summer blockbuster rather than a sleeper hit like the original.
It is a major box office success, making around $240 million worldwide, proving that John McClane isn't a one-time thing.
Now, you're the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time.
[laughs] Story of my life.
And I'll play this, like, clip from John Amos, which I'll send you, Harry, which is like, "You're the wrong guy at the wrong place at the wrong time." He's like, "Story of my life." And that simply becomes a genre shorthand, a pitch format that will echo through the entire decade.
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