Die Hard Movie Locations

Skip to primary navigation Skip to content Skip to footer DIE HARD FILMING LOCATIONS

Written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza, Die Hard is an American action film released in 1988 starring Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, Alan Rickman, Reginald VelJohnson, and William Atherton, and directed by John McTiernan. The movie is based on a novel by Roderick Thorp titled Nothing Lasts Forever.

Die Hard was filmed in and is set in Los Angeles, but a latermovie in the series (Die Hard 3) is set in New York City.

Die Hard 2 (Die Hard 2: Die Harder)

Die Hard 2, also known as Die Hard 2: Die Harder, is a 1990 film starring Bruce Willis reprising his role as police detective John McClane and co-stars Bonnie Bedelia, reprising her role as Holly McClane. The movie is based on a novel by Walter Wager entitled 58 Minutes. Die Hard 2 was the first movie to have a digitally-manipulated Matte Painting.

Though it takes place in Dulles International Airport in Virginia, the movie was actually filmed in many other locations. Many of the airport terminal shots were from LAX in Los Angeles, other shots were from many runways of other airports, such as Stapleton International Airport in Denver, CO. Some runway scenes were also shot at Alpena County Regional Airport in Alpena, MI.

Die Hard 3 (Die Hard with a Vengeance)

Die Hard with a Vengeance, also known as Die Hard 3, is the third film in the Die Hard series released in 1995. It was directed by John McTiernan and written by Jonathan Hensleigh.

Many of the scenes were filmed in New York City, and you will get a chance to see these sites on our Central Park TV & Movie Sites Tour. You will see the New York City Water Tunnel No. 3, a then-unfinished tunnel connecting the city to reservoirs in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York, where the chase scenes in the tunnel were filmed.

A pivotal tense scene is also shot in Tompkins Square Park, which is a prominent location on the brand new East Village TV & Movie Sites Walking Tour. On this tour, you’ll also see locations from Law & Order: SVU, The Godfather, Will & Grace, and more.

Don’t forget the subway station entrance at 72nd St. and Broadway where John McClane and Zeus (Samuel Jackson) race to pick up the pay phone in order to beat the deadline imposed by the mad bomber Simon (Jeremy Irons).  Also, the Tompkins Square Park at Avenue A and 7th St. is where John and Zeus struggled to solve a riddle in order to prevent the detonation of a bomb.

There is also the Federal Reserve Building at William and Liberty St. where Simon and his team tried to remove the city’s gold supply. Sam went in through the front entrance while the others drove trucks along the side of the building.

Die Hard 4 (Live Free or Die Hard)

Live Free or Die Hard, released as Die Hard 4.0 or Die Hard 4, is the fourth installment in this series. The film takes place some 19 years after the first film, and sees McClane face a gang of cyber-terrorism.

Filming for Live Free or Die Hard started in downtown Baltimore, Maryland on September 23, 2006 but it didn’t go quite as expected. Willis was injured on January 24, 2007 during a fight scene, when he was kicked above his right eye. The injury was regarded as “no big deal” and Willis saw a doctor and went home for the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, Bruce Willis’ stunt double was seriously injured when he fell twenty-five feet to the pavement. He suffered broken bones in his face and fractures in both wrists and the production was temporarily shut down. Willis picked up the tab at area hotels for his stunt double’s parents and visited him a number of times at the hospital.

After the injuries, the movie was finally able to get going and was eventually released in June 2007. Most locations in this film were in Los Angeles, California such as 20th Century Fox Studios, Los Angeles Center Studios, Los Angeles International Airport, Hahn Plaza in the University of Southern California and many others.

Come take this tour with us and catch a glimpse of some of the sites in this Die Hard thrilling series!

* In an effort to stay current, we are constantly updating our tours with new locations and cannot guarantee the presence of locations mentioned on our site. If you have a particular interest in locations from a specific TV show or movie, please let your tour guide know and we will do our best to accommodate your request.

TAKE THE TOURS THAT FEATURE SOME OF THESE FILMING LOCATIONS!

Central Park TV & Movie Sites Tour From $30 - $40

• User All ages
• Hour Glass 2 hours for public tours
• Tag Walking Tour/Self-Guided Tour

Central Park TV & Movie Sites Tour

Take a leisurely walking tour through Central Park, NYC’s most famous backdrop! See over 30 locations from your favorite titles like Serendipity, Enchanted, Isn’t it Romantic, and more!

Book Public Tour Learn More NYC TV & Movie Tour

Most Popular!

From $50 - $75

• User All ages
• Hour Glass 2.5 hours
• Tag Bus Tour, Public Bus/Vehicle Tour

NYC TV & Movie Tour

Straddle fiction and reality as you visit famous sites from both the big and small screen! See a mix of nostalgic locations from Friends, Seinfeld, When Harry Met Sally, and more.

Book Public Tour Learn More Manage Consent To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions. Functional Functional Always active The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network. Preferences Preferences The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user. Statistics Statistics The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you. Marketing Marketing The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes. Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes Accept Deny View preferences Save preferences View preferences {title} {title} {title} Manage consent