--- title: 'Die Hard' Writer Confirms It Is A Christmas Movie description: Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, Die Hard really is a Christmas movie canonical: https://time.com/5079487/die-hard-christmas-movie/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-26T15:47:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:49:27.013Z og:title: The 'Die Hard' Writer Just Settled the Christmas Movie Debate Once and For All og:description: Yippee-ki-yay, 'Die Hard' fans og:url: https://time.com/5079487/die-hard-christmas-movie/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1acdbf197dd4788b/6988f686fb4eac76cf8951db/die-hard-bruce-willis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4281 og:image:height: 2408 og:image:alt: Bruce Willis In 'Die Hard' og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The 'Die Hard' Writer Just Settled the Christmas Movie Debate Once and For All twitter:description: Yippee-ki-yay, 'Die Hard' fans twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1acdbf197dd4788b/6988f686fb4eac76cf8951db/die-hard-bruce-willis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The _Die Hard_ Writer Just Settled the Christmas Movie Debate Once and For All > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Dec 26, 2017 3:47 PM UTC  Bruce Willis in 'Die Hard' Bruce Willis in 'Die Hard' 20th Century-Fox/Getty Images) by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Dec 26, 2017 3:47 PM UTC Yippee-ki-yay, _Die Hard_ fans. Go ahead and switch from the Hallmark Channel’s Christmas fare and fire up _Die Hard_, because the film’s writer has confirmed that it is indeed a [Christmas story](http://time.com/4597160/christmas-movies-stream-2016/?iid=sr-link6). CNN reporter Jake Tapper used his investigative journalism skills to get to the bottom of one of the burning questions that is dividing the nation—is _Die Hard_ a Christmas movie? Tapper reached out to the film’s writer, Steven de Souza, on Twitter and asked him to settle the debate once and for all. > [](https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/944740130681753601) > [](https://twitter.com/StevenEdeSouza/status/944812347461218305) According to de Souza, _Die Hard_ really is a Christmas [movie](http://time.com/5060626/national-film-registry-2017/?iid=sr-link1), but only “because the studio rejected the Purim draft.” While the idea of [Bruce Willis](http://time.com/5002211/bruce-willis-is-almost-unrecognizable-in-his-highly-successful-halloween-costume/?iid=sr-link1)’s sardonic, seen-it-all police officer John McClane battling [Alan Rickman](http://time.com/4181498/alan-rickman-appreciation/?iid=sr-link7) as a Hans Gruber-esque Haman laying siege to the office Purim party will make many movie-lovers chuckle, it’s good to know that _Die Hard_ can safely be added to the Christmas movie playlist next to _It’s A Wonderful Life_ and _A Christmas Story_. Getting the definitive answer to this long-running question, isn’t the only way that Tapper applied his journalistic skills to the _Die Hard_ legacy. He also also transformed the action movie into an epic, rhyming poem that tells of the struggle between good and evil that took place at the Nakatomi Tower on Christmas Eve, all tapped out in a series of tweets. > [](https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/945475213797584896) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5079487/die-hard-christmas-movie/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5079487/die-hard-christmas-movie/"},"headline":"The Die Hard Writer Just Settled the Christmas Movie Debate Once and For All","datePublished":"2017-12-26T15:47:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:49:27.013Z","description":"Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers","url":"https://time.com/5079487/die-hard-christmas-movie/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1acdbf197dd4788b/6988f686fb4eac76cf8951db/die-hard-bruce-willis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1acdbf197dd4788b/6988f686fb4eac76cf8951db/die-hard-bruce-willis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bruce Willis In 'Die Hard'","caption":"Bruce Willis In 'Die Hard'","creditText":"20th Century-Fox/Getty Images)","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5079487/die-hard-christmas-movie/","name":"The Die Hard Writer Just Settled the Christmas Movie Debate Once and For All"}}]}] ```