Alan Rickman: I almost said no to Die Hard

Alan Rickman nearly turned down the chance to appear in Die Hard.

The British actor’s profile skyrocketed after he took on the now iconic role of villainous Hans Gruber in the 1988 movie.

However, Alan has revealed in a new interview that it was the genre of the film that initially made him think twice about agreeing to the project.

"I read the script, and I said, 'What the hell is this? I’m not doing an action movie,' " Alan revealed at a BAFTA event on Wednesday, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"Agents and people said, ‘Alan, you don’t understand, this doesn’t happen. You’ve only been in L.A. two days, and you’ve been asked to do this film.' "

Alan eventually agreed to take on the role of Gruber in the film, which told the story of a failed attempt to rob the Nakatomi Plaza.

But he admits he took the opportunity to offer an alternative suggestion to the script, which saw Gruber first seen in full-on terrorist gear.

"I was just thinking: If I was wearing a suit and not all of this terrorist gear, then maybe there could be a scene where I put on an American accent, and he thinks I’m one of the hostages," he said, adding that he detailed the idea in a note to producer Joel Silver.

"Then I went back to England, and I kind of got the Joel Silver: 'Get the hell out of here, you’ll wear what you’re told,' and I said, 'OK, fine.' And then I came back and they handed me the new script. So, you know, it just pays to occasionally use a little bit of theatre training when you’re doing a movie."

In the villainous role, Alan showed off his acting skills as well as his ability with a machine gun.

And he admits that while it took a while to get used to using the props, it eventually became something he enjoyed.

"It is shocking how thrilling it is to shoot a machine gun, that I discovered,” he said.