Actually, both options have been used to simulate a person walking across shattered glass.

In the "Die Hard" (1988) scenes — the hero spends a lot of time wandering around on glass in that movie — they opted for fake feet. You can even see in a few shots that his feet look abnormally tall (what you're seeing is rubber feet that have been glued to his real ones), but other productions have used fake glass to simulate the effect, according to Tracy Wilson of the venerable behind-the-scenes website HowStuffWorks.com.

Effects masters take the same approach as they do when smashing a bottle over someone's head on screen: they use what's known as breakaway glass, or else sugar or candy glass — so called because it's made of sugar and could, in fact, be eaten if desired. Being made of sugar means it breaks more easily and generally isn't strong enough to pierce skin.

All that said, walking on actual glass is a popular magic trick, and it can be done (relatively) safely if you know how.

Magicians are, of course, famously reluctant to reveal their secrets, but we know that it partly involves using a deep bed of glass, giving the shards room to sink under the person's weight, and using types of glass that tend to shatter into round instead of pointy pieces. But please don't try this at home (or on the "Die Hard" set, or anywhere else, for that matter) as it is extremely dangerous.

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