History Trivia / DieHardWithAVengeance

* ChannelHop: A partial case, as this is the only movie in the series not to be solely made by Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox - it was a co-production with Cinergi, which is why the movie was mainly released outside North America by [[Creator/{{Disney}} Buena Vista International]]. Disney (the parent company of Buena Vista International) would later end up buying Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox and completely own all the rights to the entire ''Die Hard'' franchise.

* ActorInspiredElement: Zeus' look in the film was Creator/SamuelLJackson's idea after he'd done extensive research on his character by studying books on Malcolm X.

** The film was released in the UK with the violence toned down and even some swearing dubbed over to get a 15 rating. The first UK DVD release was even worse, cutting entire scenes with violence instead of the offending few seconds and rendering some scenes incomprehensible. For example, cutting strait from [=McClane=] talking to the two truck drivers to him looking through their ID with their dead bodies in the background. The elevator fight was also made an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome. The 2-disc Special Edition corrects this to the less-censored UK theatrical version. Fortunately averted with the totally uncut Blu-ray release (which also included most of the extras from its US counterpart). [[https://youtu.be/1IkWvEr8dgM?t=27m15s Here's a detailed look at how the film was edited for its UK releases]]

* FatalMethodActing: Averted. According to Creator/JohnMcTiernan says a bus came six inches from crashing into Creator/SamuelLJackson's head. About half of that traffic was actually real and the other half was added in edit.

** Music/MichaelKamen's expanded score for the film (which was highly-requested by fans) was released in the early 2010s by La-La-Land Records in a 2-disc expanded edition, featuring material that was cut from the final product. That release was limited to 4,000 copies and went out of stock not long after, leading fan preservations to be the only other way to get the material.

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: When some TV edits changed [=McClane's=] "I Hate Niggers" sandwich board so it read "I Hate Everybody", rumors emerged that it actually originally read "I Hate Everybody" during filming and the writing was changed in post-production editing. Not exactly; in reality, it was blank and ''both'' phrases were added in post.

** Simon makes John and Zeus drive all around Manhattan to answer specific payphones, then bluffs the police off their radios by insinuating some of the bombs were keyed to police frequencies... then he locks up the entire New York switchboard by calling a popular radio station about the [[spoiler:fake]] bomb he planted in a school, to destroy the ''other'' means of communication the NYPD could've had. Cell phones would've beaten all three methods in a second (but then, knowing Simon, he probably would've probably had something for ''that'' eventuality as well).

* WagTheDirector: Creator/BruceWillis was adamant that this film ought to be able to stand by itself, and so demanded that any references to either of the two previous films be kept to an absolute minimum. This results in the only direct connections to the first film being Holly having a brief voice cameo, Simon being the brother of Hans Gruber (and even then, Willis insisted that revenge actually ''not'' be Simon's primary motive), and a scene where the circumstances of the Nakatomi incident ("That thing in the building in LA") are briefly referenced, before John briefly recaps the incident to Zeus; ''Film/DieHard2'' isn't explicitly referenced at all.

** While the deleted alternate ending is well known, another original ending was Simon and his men seemingly getting away on a helicopter. Simon would realize they have an extra case and open it to reveal the "gallon bomb" he'd used before that [=McClane=] hid on the copter. The movie would close with Simon calmly asking "does anyone have a four gallon jug?"

* YouLookFamiliar: Anthony Peck appeared as a random L.A. cop ("Something about a double cross!") in the first film and and now reappears as NYPD detective Ricky Walsh.

* DeletedScene: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft7w4e_G0Bw A deleted scene]] included on an issue of [=DVDVision=] in the early 2000s revealed a scene that was previously only read about in the novelization -- during the car chase, Zeus admits to John that his brother died because he was trying to bring Zeus home from a gang party, only for the police to arrive and shoot him dead during the chaos. Another short removed sequence had John attempting to find commonality with Zeus as they are jogging, by commenting that they both grew up eating the same diet (macaroni and cheese) every night.

** The film was released in the UK with the violence toned down and even some swearing dubbed over to get a 15 rating. The first UK DVD release was even worse, cutting entire scenes with violence instead of the offending few seconds and rendering some scenes incomprehensible. For example, cutting strait from [=McClane=] talking to the two truck drivers to him looking through their ID with their dead bodies in the background. The elevator fight was also made an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome. The 2-disc Special Edition corrects this to the less-censored UK theatrical version. Fortunately averted with the totally uncut Blu-ray release (which also included the extras from its US counterpart).
*** [[https://youtu.be/1IkWvEr8dgM?t=27m15s Here's a detailed look at how the film was edited for its UK releases]]

* CompletelyDifferentTitle : In France, the movie is known as "A Day in Hell".

* WagTheDirector: Creator/BruceWillis was adamant that this film ought to be able to stand by itself, and so demanded that any references to either of the two previous films be kept to an absolute minimum. This results in the only direct connections to the first film being Holly having a brief voice cameo, Simon being the brother of Hans Gruber (and even then, Willis insisted that revenge actually ''not'' be Simon's primary motive), and John briefly recapping the Nakatomi incident to Zeus; ''Film/DieHard2'' isn't explicitly referenced at all.

* HilariousInHindsight: The cops being able to track Simon Gruber down from [[spoiler:the bottle of pills he hands [=McClane=] out of pity]] seems like a hideously convenient plot contrivance…but then again, [[https://nypost.com/2022/12/29/andrew-tate-brother-arrested-on-sex-trafficking-allegations-report/amp/ Andrew Tate got arrested]] after Romanian police confirmed his location from a pizza box in a video he filmed as a Twitter clapback.

** The film was released in the UK with the violence toned down and even some swearing dubbed over to get a 15 rating. The first UK DVD release was even worse, cutting entire scenes with violence instead of the offending few seconds and rendering some scenes incomprehensible. For example, cutting strait from [=McClane=] talking to the two truck drivers to him looking through their ID with their dead bodies in the background. The elevator fight was also made an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome. The 2-disc Special Edition corrects this to the less-censored UK theatrical version. Fortunately averted with the totally uncut blu-ray release (which also included the extras from its US counterpart).

* ChannelHop: A partial case, as this is the only movie in the series not to be solely made by Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox - it was a co-production with Cinergi, which is why the movie was mainly released outside North America by [[Creator/{{Disney}} Buena Vista]].

* DolledUpInstallment: The film was based on an original screenplay titled ''Simon Says''. It was also considered for use as ''Film/LethalWeapon4''. At another stage, it was a sequel to ''Rapid Fire'', with Creator/BrandonLee's character paired up with a black activist played by Creator/AngelaBassett.

** The first version of the screenplay was based on a spec script by James Haggin called ''Troubleshooter'' which involved terrorists seizing control of a Caribbean cruise ship while John and Holly are on a honeymoon cruise. The idea was abandoned after ''Film/UnderSiege'' went into production. (This script later became ''Film/Speed2CruiseControl''.) In 1992 Creator/JohnMilius was hired to write another version of the story. In 1993 Doug Richardson and John Fasano simultaneously worked on two separate ''Die Hard 3'' scripts which were both rejected by Creator/BruceWillis. This time the plot was concerned with terrorists taking control of the L.A. subway system.

** Simon makes John and Zeus drive all around Manhattan to answer specific payphones, then bluffs the police off their radios by insinuating some of the bombs were keyed to police frequencies... then he locks up the entire New York switchboard by calling a popular radio station about the [[spoiler:fake]] bomb he planted in a school, to destroy the ''other'' means of communication the NYPD could've had. Cell phones would've beaten all three methods in a second (but then, Simon would've probably had something for ''that'' eventuality as well).
** The riddles would also be a lot less suspenseful if John and Zeus had just Googled the answers on their smartphones.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The riddle referencing America having 42 presidents inevitably gets more and more outdated every few years.

* DolledUpInstallment: The film was based on an original screenplay titled ''Simon Says''. It was also considered for use as ''Film/LethalWeapon4''. At another stage, it was a sequel to ''Rapid Fire'', with Brandon Lee's character paired up with a black activist played by Creator/AngelaBassett.