Peter Billingsley knows a little something about holiday movies — after all, he appeared in the holiday classic Elf and played Ralphie in the timeless A Christmas Story.
So when he makes the case that Die Hard is definitively a Christmas movie, people should listen — and that’s just what Die Hard cinematographer Jan de Bont did as Billingsley made his case in an interview with the Speed director that was posted to Instagram.
“It opens with RUN-DMC‘s ‘Christmas in Hollis’, a great Christmas song, in the limousine,” Billingsley begins, to which de Bont agrees.
“You have the iconic ‘Ho-Ho-Ho’ moment when he [Bruce Willis‘ John McClane] decorates the dead body, puts it in an elevator,” the actor and Iron Man co-producer continues.
“Production design put Santas everywhere. Its central location is a Christmas party … The film ends with the song ‘Let It Snow,’ it’s the end credits song,” Billingsley adds.
He closes by saying, “But I’ll leave you with this: I think it embodies the themes of Christmas: of acceptance, forgiveness, love and family.”
At this point, de Bont smiles and agrees: “Okay, I’m sold now.”
For the record, millions of fans may disagree, but back in 2018, during his Comedy Central roast, Willis, emphatically joked, “Die Hard is not a Christmas movie! It’s a g****** Bruce Willis movie!”
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
