Despite a vast and decorated career, there’s one role that made Bruce Willis a household name. As John McClane, the tough New York cop, Willis turned ‘Die Hard‘ (1988) into one of the greatest action films of all time.
But while we remember the movie for launching his career into worldwide superstardom and forever defining the genre, the franchise’s first installment actually also left the actor with one very serious injury.
Bruce Willis Suffered Hearing Loss On The Set Of ‘Die Hard’
The injury happened during one of the film’s most memorable shootout sequences. The scene in focus features McClane fighting a group of Hans Gruber’s (played by Alan Rickman) men in a conference room. Bruce’s character fires his gun from underneath a table.
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During the shoot, however, Willis accidentally held the prop gun too close to his left ear. When the blank cartridge discharged beside his head, it caused permanent hearing damage.
“Due to an accident on the first ‘Die Hard,’ I suffer two-thirds partial hearing loss in my left ear,” Willis said in an interview with The Guardian. “[I] have a tendency to say, ‘Whaaa?'” Meanwhile, Willis’ daughter, Rumer, also revealed that her dad looks awkward in interviews due to his permanent injury.
“I think part of the problem is sometimes he can’t hear…because he shot a gun off next to his ear when he was doing Die Hard a long time ago, so he has partial hearing loss in his ears,” she said via the Toronto Sun.
According to some rumors, director John McTiernan used extra-loud blank rounds to make the film’s gunfire sound more realistic. While the effect may have worked for many scenes, it wasn’t the same case for indoor spaces.
The Dangerous Production Of ‘Die Hard’
A long list of Hollywood stars, including Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Richard Gere, were offered the role of John McClane before Willis. As per writer Steven E. de Souza, they all turned it down, thinking the character was “a wimp [because all he] does is try to hide and get help.”
In Case You Missed It: The Deleted Story Behind How John McClane Actually Recognized Hans Gruber In ‘Die Hard’
It’s not surprising, considering John McClane challenged the traditional action-hero formula. He was just an ordinary man trying to reconcile with his wife when he suddenly found himself trapped in a life-or-death situation.
The production itself wasn’t any different. In fact, the set was notorious for being very demanding. The hearing loss wasn’t Willis’ only close call on set. He almost suffered another injury during the iconic sequence in which McClane leaps from the building moments before a massive explosion.
According to reports, Willis came dangerously close to missing the airbag meant to break his fall. He later recalled that the crew briefly feared that he was dead. Beyond ‘Die Hard,’ the actor also suffered a health setback during the production of ‘Tears of the Sun’ (2003).
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