A closer look
Bruce Willis suffered permanent, severe hearing loss in his left ear during the filming of the original 'Die Hard' because director John McTiernan insisted on using specialized extra-loud blank cartridges to get authentic flinches from the actors. During the famous scene where Willis shoots a terrorist from underneath a table, the deafening concussive blast of the oversized blanks in such a confined space instantly ruptured his eardrum. It is highly amusing that the quintessential, indestructible American action hero who survives walking barefoot on shattered glass, dodging rocket launchers, and falling off skyscrapers was permanently maimed on set because a director thought normal fake guns just didn't sound aggressive enough for an eighties movie
