John Moore to direct Die Hard 5

The dream is over: Joe Cornish won't be directing Die Hard 5 . Instead that job goes to John Moore.

The fifth film in the Die Hard franchise does a Police Academy 7 and sends cop John McClane to Russia.

Cornish ( Attack The Block ), Nicolas Winding Refn ( Valhalla Rising ), Justin Lin ( Fast Five ) and Moore ( Max Payne ) were all known to be in the running to helm.

Deadline.com reports that Fox also had conversations with Gary Fleder ( Runaway Jury ), Paul McGuigan ( Lucky Number Slevin ) and Mikael Hafstrom ( 1408 ).

Moore was the initial favourite for the job after original Die Hard 5 director Noam Murro jumped ship for Warner Bros' 300: Battle Of Artemisia .

Still, Moore only got the gig after meeting with Bruce Willis – who tends to have a say in who directs Die Hard movies – and convincing him of his respect for the character of McClane and his ability to do practical stunts rather than rely on CG.