There have been a lot of rumors surrounding the sadly inevitable Die Hard 5 over the past few years, from Bruce Willis claiming it would be a worldwide undershirt adventure to talk that it might inexplicably be called Die Hard 24/7. The most recent bit of news to sneak out of the endless Die Hard 5 rumor treadmill was that the new film would weirdly be directed by award-winning commercial helmer Noam Murro of Smart People fame. Franchise fans struggled to imagine what an indie quirk comedy version of Die Hard could possibly be, with guns removed in favor of manic-depressive deadpan comedy. Fortunately we won’t have to worry about that any longer as today it’s been reported that Murro has left the project. However, Willis and the studio are still determined to milk a little more cast out of the Die Hard brand name and plan to search for a new director for the latest franchise entry that will apparently send John McClane to Russia (we’re as confused as you are by that one). Hit the jump for more info on the endlessly delayed five-quel.According to Twitch Film, Murro has departed Die Hard 5, which is probably a good thing seeing as how little he’s made before suggests an interest in throwback high-octane action. Murro has moved on to an equally baffling project and plans to direct the 300 sequel 300: Battle Of Artemisia instead (I guess he’s decided to specialize in unnecessary sequels). It hasn’t yet been revealed who will replace Murro in the director’s chair; however, there’s no way the project will completely disappear. There are simply too many dollar signs involved even after the disappointing, but successful Live Free Or Die Hard. The current rumor is that Max Payne director John Moore will step in, which suggests the film will promise the same level of mediocrity as the last chapter in the franchise.What the movie will be about is anyone’s guess, with endless rumors and speculation popping up over the four years since the last outing. Current speculation is that the next film will mostly be spent in Russia with John McClane and his son getting into trouble with the locals. It’s a believable premise, but not a very promising one. Using Russia as a villain could either be an amusing throwback to Regan-era action flicks or a lazy sign of desperation, and pairing Bruce Willis up with a young actor didn’t work with Justin Long last time, so I find it hard to believe they’ll come up with the perfect young partner here (though Ashton Kutcher would at least be an amusingly terrible choice).The simple truth is that we don’t really need another Die Hard movie. The original films are R-rated action classics from another era and if Live Free Or Die Hard proved anything it’s that the studios just don’t know how to make those kinds of movies anymore (Bruce wasn’t even allowed to say Yippie-Ki-Yay motherfucker for christsakes). But, sadly that movie made enough money to make a fifth Die Hard movie sound potentially profitable and all of the Cop Outs in the world won’t convince those money-hungry execs otherwise. All we can hope is that Die Hard 5 will be as painless as possible, or ideally it’ll languish in development hell for too long and never get made. Fingers crossed John McLane fans, fingers crossed.