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Die Hard Screenwriter Mercifully Ends the Christmas-Movie Debate

Photo: 20th Century Fox

For some reason, the question of whether or not 1988’s action flick Die Hard is a Christmas movie has been allowed to become an annual debate (for example, this BBC article titled “People are claiming Die Hard is a Christmas film and it’s tearing the internet apart” was published earlier this month). The movie is set at Christmas, but it was released in July, like a proper blockbuster, so does it get to live in the holiday canon alongside White Christmas, Scrooged, and Elf? According to Die Hard screenwriter Steven E. de Souza, yes, it definitely does. Like the true hard-nosed journalist that he is, CNN’s Jake Tapper tweeted at de Souza and just asked him directly whether or not Die Hard was meant as a Christmas picture, to which the screenwriter replied:

Additionally, de Souza replied to a handful of people on Twitter with supporting evidence for why Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Some people, like sports reporter Rich Eisen, refuse to accept the truth, but know now that if you argue against Die Hard as a Christmas movie, you will officially be arguing from the wrong position.

Die Hard Screenwriter Ends the Christmas-Movie Debate