It’s been a running joke ever since the first trailer appeared: Skyscraper is “Die Hard in a building,” a seemingly redundant pitch (Die Hard, of course, IS set in a building) that both the original film’s writer Steven de Souza and star Bruce Willis say they’ve heard unironically over the years. Dwayne Johnson was raised in the wrestling business, where respect for your elder competitors is paramount (at least among the in-ring talent, if not always the promoters): use a move that somebody else has used before, and you’d better get their permission for it.
It’s not clear what permission the star may or may not have gotten in advance, but with two new retro-styled posters he commissioned, and revealed today, he acknowledges that he is in fact using moves, so to speak, from two films. One is Die Hard; the other is The Towering Inferno.
I had these ultra cool vintage posters made paying homage to the two classic movies that inspired me and generations, and became the inspiration for my film SKYSCRAPER.
Respect & luv to the GOAT’s Willis, McQueen & Newman.#DieHard #ToweringInferno #SKYSCRAPER JULY 13th🔥🌍 pic.twitter.com/RQ2XUoxTxX— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) July 1, 2018
Johnson used to pay tribute to Arnold Schwarzenegger (most notably in The Rundown) as a muscular guy with the quips, but it’s cool to see that he’s currently being inspired by great actors who just happened to get successfully cast as action heroes, among many other things. We’ll get to see which kind of movie Skyscraper is more like on July 13th.
Would you pick up these poster to hang alongside the greats on your wall? Let us know in comments.
Image: Legendary Pictures/Universal Pictures
Editor’s note: Nerdist Industries is a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks.
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