War Games Part One

By: Pamela Harland
Date: Thursday, January 31, 2002

Josh Hartnett and Tom Sizemore couldn't appear to be more different. Hartnett is tall and lanky while Sizemore is big and burly. Sizemore, at just 37, has the appearance of a man who's been around the block a few times and Hartnett, 23, looks as though he hasn't graduated from high school. And yet, when discussing their film BLACK HAWK DOWN in which they co-star, the two seem at one with their feelings on making the war film with Ridley Scott, the importance of what the film has to say and the responsibility each felt in portraying real life soldiers sent to the city of Mogadishu to apprehend two lieutenants of a Somalian warlord.

"We had

an obligation to play them honestly and play them well," says Sizemore, who plays Lt. Colonel Danny McKnight, "and give them real life and bring them to life; what they did, who they are and how well they fought. I was honored."

The mission recreated in the gritty Scott film is based on the 1993 true story of U.S. soldiers, sent to capture the Somalian men, whose plan went terribly wrong. Two of the U.S.'s Black Hawk helicopters were shot down, resulting in the death of many Americans.

Hartnett, who plays Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann in the film, says in talking with some of the survivors of the mission he was able to capture the essence of what it was like to be on the ground fighting in a foreign country, outnumbered and feared left to die.

"It's extremely

important to see what these guys had to go through," says Hartnett. "A lot of the guys who were in that battle were there with us telling us what happened, step by step pretty much."

In preparing for their roles, the actors went through a boot camp, learning how to handle weapons and basically help, as Hartnett puts it, "not look like fools."

Pre-filming and after first reading the script neither actor felt any reservations about doing a film that is virtually a battle sequence from beginning to end. In fact, they both relished the opportunity. In particular, this was true for Sizemore, who also appears in two other war films: PEARL HARBOR, with Hartnett, and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

"I thought

it was an important movie for many reasons," says Sizemore of BLACK HAWK DOWN. "It was an honest, truthful depiction of what happened and also, not to get too technical, but Ridley, I haven't spoken to him about this, but he was interested in the anatomy of a battle, the foreground, not the background, not the anatomy of a kind of star-driven type thing. It was so honest and truthful and Ridley Scott is a great director."

Hartnett, too, raves of Scott's filmmaking, calling BLACK HAWK DOWN  "...one of Ridley's finest achievements." And not just because he's in the film. "I am all for director control on a film and Ridley is a man who has the clout to control a film this large," says Hartnett.

Be sure to check back soon for part two of CINESCAPE's Josh Hartnett/Tom Sizemore profile, as the duo discuss their work on BLACK HAWK DOWN in greater detail.