Claim: Jonathan Hensleigh was the director of a film starring John Travolta.

Die Hard with a Vengeance is a 1995 American action film and the third in the Die Hard film series . It was co-produced and directed by John McTiernan -LRB- who directed Die Hard -RRB- , written by Jonathan Hensleigh , and stars Bruce Willis as New York City Police Department Lieutenant John McClane , Samuel L. Jackson as McClane 's reluctant partner Zeus Carver , and Jeremy Irons as Simon Peter Gruber . It was released on May 19 , 1995 , five years after Die Hard 2 , becoming the highest-grossing film at the worldwide box-office that year , but received mixed reviews . It was followed by Live Free or Die Hard and A Good Day to Die Hard in 2007 and 2013 , respectively .