"It was a really hard film to make," he said at a press conference recently. "A year ago when we started making this film, the risk factor was very high. There was a high possibility of failure in a film like this. But it turned out very well."

The latest instalment in the Die Hard series revolves around a planned cyber-terror attack on the United States, with Willis teaming up with Justin Long, who plays a computer hacker, to thwart the evil Mai, played by Hong Kong star Maggie Quigley, better known as Maggie Q.

Willis noted that the movie's director, Len Wiseman, was just 16 years old when the first Die Hard was released in 1988 -- evidence that, as the name suggests, the movie has staying power.

"Now you can see me as a 32-year-old actor and as a 52-year-old actor," he said. Audiences can also see Willis get beat up by a woman.

"This is the first time I've fought against a woman in a film and lost," Willis said.

The movie premieres in Japan on June 23. It opens in the US and elsewhere on June 27.