Director John McTiernan instructed his stunt crew to physically drop actor Alan Rickman onto an airbag prematurely during the filming of his legendary death scene in Die Hard…

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Director John McTiernan instructed his stunt crew to physically drop actor Alan Rickman onto an airbag prematurely during the filming of his legendary death scene in Die Hard just to cleverly capture a look of genuine, unfiltered terror on the villain's face, cynically promising the classically trained Shakespearean actor they would release the wire on the count of three before aggressively dropping him on the count of one, sending him plummeting backward with a legitimate expression of profound betrayal and sheer panic, meaning the quintessential cinematic villain death of the eighties was beautifully achieved by blatantly lying to a sophisticated British gentleman and terrifying him half to death, adding an incredible layer of dark comedy to an action classic while serving as a fantastic reminder that the most highly effective special effect in Hollywood history is usually just catching an actor completely off guard and fiercely hoping they don't sue the studio