Bruce Willis Saves Christmas – and Fox Plaza – in 'Die Hard'

Whether or not “Die Hard” is a holiday film has long been debated among film lovers. Not up for debate: The 1988 film is considered an action classic. The summer blockbuster, set on Christmas Eve but released in July, was filmed primarily at Fox Plaza, the 34-story late-modern building that stands like a beacon at 2121 Avenue of the Stars in LA's Century City .

The multifaceted building posing as Nakatomi Plaza, the headquarters of the fictional Nakatomi Corp., is the home of NYPD officer John McClane (Bruce Willis). After arriving in Los Angeles, he heads out (“Come out to the coast, we'll meet up and have a few laughs!”) to visit his estranged wife Holly Gennaro (Bonnie Bedilia).for the holidays, and ends with him taking down a group of West German terrorists during a company Christmas party.

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The Class A office building, designed by architectural firm Johnson Fain, is featured extensively in the film. The production even used several floors that were still under construction at the time of filming. McClane plays cat and mouse with adversary Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) and his henchmen throughout the soaring skyscraper, from the elevator shafts to the pink marble-clad lobby to the roof, which rises some 490 feet above the street below.

A scale model of the building was used for the sequence at the end of the film in which the top floors are blown up. In real life, Fox Plaza stands intact and looks almost exactly as it did at the beginning of the film.

The place boasts several additional claims to fame. Not only did Ronald Reagan set up his offices there after his presidency, but the structure was also immortalized in productions like “Fight Club” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” However, it is “Die Hard” that led to its irrefutable status as one of the most recognizable landmarks on the Century City skyline.

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