John Moore to direct Die Hard 5; director for Red 2 being sought

When Noam Murro dropped out of directing Die Hard 5, I think the hopes of many was that the film would quietly go away. It didn't, and the search for a replacement began almost immediately A shortlist was put forth that included a number of top tier names, most of which were unlikely to take on the job: Joe Cornish(Attack the Block), Justin Lin(Better Luck Tomorrow), Nicolas Winding Refn(Valhalla Rising). When I spoke to Refn recently he seemed to indicate that he never gave it a serious thought, and I tend to believe him. But there was one other name who even before was considered Fox's top choice, John Moore, director of the similarly toned Max Payne.

Deadline now reports that Moore has won the job, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody. Moore's biggest hits have all been action flicks: Max Payne, Flight of the Phoenix, and the strangely cast Behind Enemy Lines. He also did a pretty good remake of The Omen back in 2006.

So it's a solid pick, one which was apparently made with Willis' blessing. He's the face of the franchise so what he says goes. I still think it's a disastrous idea, especially after that lousy PG-13 yippie kai krap Live Free Or Die Hard. The latest film, with a script from Skip Woods, is said to have McClain battling local forces in Russia. Yeah, Russia. Lots of bad accents and jokes about snow and vodka.

Die Hard 5 aka Live Free or Dos Vadanya, will shoot before Willis moves on to the sequel to last year's surprise hit, Red. Robert Schwentke isn't returning since he'll be hammering out R.I.P.D. until 2013, so that means somebody new will be at the helm. Deadline notes that the first name being mentioned is Breck Eisner(The Crazies), but there's hopefully far more and better options than that.