Daily Dialogue — October 6, 2012

“Look… I’m getting a bad feeling up here… I’d like you to do something for me. Look up my wife… don’t ask how, you’ll know by then… and tell her… tell her… I’ve been a jerk. When things panned out for her, I should’ve been behind her all the way… We had something great going until
I screwed it up… She was the best thing that ever happened to a bum like me. She’s heard me say I love you a thousand times, but she never got to hear this… honey… I’m sorry.”

— John McClane (Bruce Willis), Die Hard (1988), screenplay by Jeb Stuart, and Steven E. de Souza, novel by Roderick Thorp

http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?shortid=7kr4

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is All Is Lost, suggested by Teddy Pasternak. Die Hard recommended by DJ Holloway.

Trivia: It is often said that Bruce Willis’s lines during the scene when he pulls the glass out of his feet were ad-libbed. Indeed, it is said that upon learning this, Terry Gilliam cast Willis as the lead in Twelve Monkeys. However when comparing the original script, it appears that Willis only veered very slightly from the original written dialog.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by DJ: “The thing I love about this is it’s, to me, the perfect example of “Dark moment” followed by “Epiphany” (or whatever screenwriting words you’ve learned.) It seems cliched, maybe, now — but it totally works when you watch Bruce Willis do the scene.”