January 28, 2002
Scott Bowles
USA Today

Amid the frenetic combat scenes of Black Hawk Down, simply keeping up with the soldiers can be a battle. Which is just how director Ridley Scott wanted it. "This was chaos, a street fight we'd never seen before," he says. "I wanted to give a sense of what it might have been like on the ground" in Mogadishu, Somalia. Hawk has plenty of recognizable stars, from Josh Hartnett to Ewan McGregor to Tom Sizemore. But their faces blur and their voices blend when the gunfire and explosions begin. It's an element of the real story that the film got exactly right, says Sgt. Matt Eversmann, who survived the 1993 firefight.

"Once we landed, it almost seemed like the bullets were waiting for us," he says. "I'd never fired at a human target before, but it becomes a lot easier when three of them are suddenly shooting at you. It's utter confusion, but the thing you keep in mind is protecting yourself and the soldier next to you." To wade through that confusion, Scott takes a few liberties in the movie, identifying soldiers more clearly than they would be in hostile territory. His on-screen fighters also are a blend of real-life characters and composites of many others. Here's a look at the actors and their roles in the film:

Eric Bana: Sgt. "Hoot" Gibson

The actor: Bana, 33, stars in director Ang Lee's upcoming The Hulk. The Australian actor gained recognition as the real-life title character in Chopper (2000).

Role: He's a part of the Delta Force, the elite squadron of soldiers that performs covert "snatch and grabs" of enemy officials.

Real or not? He's a character composite. Because of their legendary status among soldiers, Delta Force members rarely have to follow typical military protocol, and their missions are always classified. "I was a little embarrassed I didn't know more about what had happened to these guys," Bana says of his experience researching his role. "You realize you're in the company of men who do the real heroic things."

William Fichtner: Sgt. Jeff Sanderson

The actor: Fichtner, 45, recently played the ill-fated fisherman David Sullivan in The Perfect Storm, and stars in the futuristic tale Equilibrium, due in the spring.

Role: As another Delta Force member, Sanderson teaches some Ranger forces a few secrets of battle before descending into Mogadishu.

Real or not? He's a character composite. Fichtner says the weeks of military training gave the actors a sense of what their real-life counterparts faced. "One day we were handling firearms; the next we were throwing grenades," he says. "I realized how often they put their lives at risk for us."

Ewan McGregor: Ranger Spec. John Grimes

The actor: He may belt out tunes with Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge, but the 30-year-old has really soared with his role as Obi Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels; the next installment, Episode II: Attack of the Clones, opens May 16.

The soldier: He portrays a company clerk who specializes in making coffee before being called to fight.

Real or not? McGregor's character is loosely based on John Stebbins, an Army Ranger who is now serving a 30-year sentence at the military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., for raping and molesting his young daughter. The name was changed at the request of the Pentagon.

Orlando Bloom: Pvt. Todd Blackburn

The actor: The 25-year-old English actor plays Legolas Greenleaf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The soldier: Blackburn, an 18-year-old on one of his first missions, missed his rope on the descent from the Black Hawk helicopter and fell 60 feet to the ground. That began the chain of mishaps.

Real or not? He is loosely based on Blackburn. Soldiers were diverted from the raid to his aid and eventually saved his life.

Josh Hartnett: Sgt. Matt Eversmann

The actor: No novice to cinematic war, the 23-year-old co-starred in another Jerry Bruckheimer war epic, Pearl Harbor. Next, Hartnett faces a daunting task: staying chaste during Lent in 40 Days and 40 Nights, out March 1.

The soldier: The 26-year-old soldier unexpectedly finds himself in charge of one of the four "chalks," the team of men carrying out the mission. Hartnett's character is based on the actual soldier, who is still with the Army.

Real or not? "I was a little intimidated playing a real person," Hartnett concedes. "Here's a guy who lived the story you're trying to tell. He's going to know if you did it right or not."

Sam Shepard: Major Gen. William Garrison

The actor: Shepard, 58, is a Pulitzer-winning playwright. He starred in last year's Swordfish.

The soldier: As Garrison, Shepard watches the mission unravel from his command post, trying in vain to orchestrate an escape from the firefight without American casualties.

Real or not? In the actual event, Garrison accepted full responsibility for the operation's miscues and casualties. He retired after Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, who was the target of the operation, was killed in a subsequent skirmish.

Ron Eldard: Chief Warrant Officer Mike Durant

The actor: He'll be recognizable to fans of TV's ER, where he played paramedic Shep. The 36-year-old next will star with Sandra Bullock and Ashley Judd in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, out July 12.

The soldier: Durant was captured by Somalis after his Black Hawk helicopter was downed with a rocket-propelled grenade.

Real or not? Though his comrades were shot and beaten to death, Durant was taken as the only hostage in the mission. His interrogation was videotaped and broadcast worldwide, but Durant was released unharmed nearly two weeks after the incident.

Jason Isaacs: Capt. Mike Steele

The actor: Isaacs, who stars in the upcoming World War II film Windtalkers, played the villain in The Patriot.

The soldier: The 38-year-old English actor plays the Army captain who toughens his soldiers for battle with by-the-book instruction and leadership.

Real or not? Researching the real-life person and incidents, he says, allowed him to learn about what "seemed to disappear from the news after just a couple days. ... The mission was seen as a failure in the media's eyes, but when you talk to these men, you realize they did what they were trained to do. As bloody and violent and chaotic as that battle was, you can't help but be in awe of what they did."

Tom Sizemore: Lt. Col. Danny McKnight

The actor: Sizemore, 37, who was in Pearl Harbor and Saving Private Ryan, takes on another soldier's story. He plays a dimwitted terrorist in Big Trouble, out April 5.

The soldier: Sizemore's character never flinches and hardly seems to notice the bullets whizzing by him in the brutal raid. He led the convoy to rescue the first downed Black Hawk helicopter.

Real or not? He decided on the approach after getting to know McKnight. "He said that he couldn't afford to flinch or duck," Sizemore says. "If he was ducking and dodging in battle, it would send the worst possible message to his men, that he was scared."