‘Die Hard’ Screenwriter Explains Why It Really Is a Christmas Movie

For families who have the annual “Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?” debate over holiday dinner, chalk one major tally up for the “yes” team.

CNN’s Jake Trapper asked the film’s screenwriter Steven E. de Souza for his take on the controversial entertainment issue, and he didn’t dance around an answer.

I’m sure [you’ve] weighed in on it before, but I’ve never heard you or [fellow screenwriter] Jeb Stuart offer your take on whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie,” Trapper tweeted to the screenwriter.

“Yes, because the studio rejected the Purim draft,” de Souza replied, adding “#DieHardIsAChristmasMovie.” His joke about Purim references a Jewish holiday that commemorates the saving of Jews from Haman’s plans for extermination.

He replied to another user’s tweet that the movie “is about love, devotion, sacrifice, generosity, and resisting evil,” all traits of the holiday sentiment, with another parallel: “Plus a woman about to give birth features prominently,” de Souza added.

The Die Hard creative master even went as far as to dress up donning multiple references to the cult classic film, including a “ho-ho-ho” sweater, bare feet and a Pacific Courier hat, a nod to the fictional company on the truck the thieves drove into the garage while prepping for their siege of Nakatomi Plaza.

Outside of de Souza, other influential figures have weighed in to claim that Die Hard is, in fact, a holiday flick. Among those people is the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau.

Trudeau appeared as a guest on City Tv’s Breakfast Television earlier in December and gave his take on the Bruce Willis film during a rapid-fire round of questions.

“Yes, Die Hard is absolutely a Christmas movie!” he said.

Fans of the movie also had reason to celebrate this month as Die Hard was named by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Film Registry.