Movies - TV
Alan Rickman Injured Himself In The First Die Hard Scene He Shot
By JOE ROBERTS
Of all the action movie villains, Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber in “Die Hard” remains one of the finest. In his determination to play Gruber convincingly, Rickman was committed to doing his own stunts; however, during the first scene, which was also Rickman's first movie scene ever, the esteemed actor unfortunately injured himself.
In his conversation with Bobby Wygant, Rickman recalled the day he jumped from a three-foot-high ledge during his first scene and immediately ripped the cartilage in his knee. As the actor remembered it, "It was late at night and tense and noisy and it was my first shot. So that was living dangerously. It was the first thing I ever did on a movie."
The scene in question was the all-important meeting between Gruber and John McClane, which seemed to be shot on a dutch tilt likely to heighten the unease and suspense between the two characters. What's more, adding to the strangeness of the whole thing, the newly-injured Rickman is standing on one leg the entire time — per doctor’s orders not to put weight on it.