While the rest of the world is in the throes of a heatwave, it appears that Bruce Willis is already looking towards the winter. The actor, who portrayed Die Hard's reluctant hero, John McClane, has famously remained tight-lipped as to whether the seminal action flick can be considered a Christmas movie... well, until now that is.

For the majority of us, the holiday season isn't truly upon us until John McClane shouts "yippee ki yay", and we see Hans Gruber plummet to his death. But for others, the Die Hard franchise doesn't conjure up the same kind of cozy, holiday spirit that the likes of Love Actually do.

And while you'd expect Bruce Willis to come to the defence of the film that arguably coined some of the most memorable catchphrases in film history, it appears that he's rather divided on the topic himself.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, at the Comedy Central Roast of Bruce Willis - which is due to air on July 29 - the actor closed the show by contentiously declaring that "Die Hard is not a Christmas movie". 

But before you start to panic, Willis then purportedly broke out into a harmonica solo, so who knows how seriously we can take his former claim. Personally, I think that this is the 63-year-old's own way of roasting the audience - I mean, he was on a comedy show, after all.

When quizzed afterwards about how he thought his comment would go down with the film's die-hard (pun intended) fans, he simply replied "We'll see."

Despite what Willis has said, the film's screenwriter, Steven E. de Souza, has previously cleared up speculation by asserting that Die Hard is, indeed, a Christmas movie.

When CNN's Jake Tapper tweeted de Souza on Christmas Eve, asking: "I’m sure you've weighed in on it before, but I’ve never heard you or Jeb Stuart offer your take on whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie," the screenwriter replied: "Yes, because the studio rejected the Purim draft #DieHardIsAChristmasMovie." He then added, "Plus a woman about to give birth features prominently."

Naturally, the people of the internet were all for it. "Watch Die Hard every Christmas, one of my top 5, to each his own," one Twitter user asserted, while another corroborated: "I've never understood the dilemma: the setting, the score, the whole party, everything screams Christmas in the film."

Another, however, took a more critical stance, writing "It's not a Christmas movie. It's just a movie that takes place at Christmas. The movie would be no different if it was the CEO's birthday party. Having a Christmas party was just the excuse for the building to be mostly, but not completely, empty."

Well, whether or not you agree that Die Hard is a Christmas movie, one thing is for sure: no one can go a full year without hearing John McClane shout "Yippee Ki Yay, motherf*cker".

While the rest of the world is in the throes of a heatwave, it appears that Bruce Willis is already looking towards the winter. The actor, who portrayed Die Hard's reluctant hero, John McClane, has famously remained tight-lipped as to whether the seminal action flick can be considered a Christmas movie... well, until now that is.

For the majority of us, the holiday season isn't truly upon us until John McClane shouts "yippee ki yay", and we see Hans Gruber plummet to his death. But for others, the Die Hard franchise doesn't conjure up the same kind of cozy, holiday spirit that the likes of Love Actually do.

And while you'd expect Bruce Willis to come to the defence of the film that arguably coined some of the most memorable catchphrases in film history, it appears that he's rather divided on the topic himself.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, at the Comedy Central Roast of Bruce Willis - which is due to air on July 29 - the actor closed the show by contentiously declaring that "Die Hard is not a Christmas movie". 

But before you start to panic, Willis then purportedly broke out into a harmonica solo, so who knows how seriously we can take his former claim. Personally, I think that this is the 63-year-old's own way of roasting the audience - I mean, he was on a comedy show, after all.

When quizzed afterwards about how he thought his comment would go down with the film's die-hard (pun intended) fans, he simply replied "We'll see."

Despite what Willis has said, the film's screenwriter, Steven E. de Souza, has previously cleared up speculation by asserting that Die Hard is, indeed, a Christmas movie.

When CNN's Jake Tapper tweeted de Souza on Christmas Eve, asking: "I’m sure you've weighed in on it before, but I’ve never heard you or Jeb Stuart offer your take on whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie," the screenwriter replied: "Yes, because the studio rejected the Purim draft #DieHardIsAChristmasMovie." He then added, "Plus a woman about to give birth features prominently."

Naturally, the people of the internet were all for it. "Watch Die Hard every Christmas, one of my top 5, to each his own," one Twitter user asserted, while another corroborated: "I've never understood the dilemma: the setting, the score, the whole party, everything screams Christmas in the film."

Another, however, took a more critical stance, writing "It's not a Christmas movie. It's just a movie that takes place at Christmas. The movie would be no different if it was the CEO's birthday party. Having a Christmas party was just the excuse for the building to be mostly, but not completely, empty."

Well, whether or not you agree that Die Hard is a Christmas movie, one thing is for sure: no one can go a full year without hearing John McClane shout "Yippee Ki Yay, motherf*cker".