Considering how terrible Netflix streaming's overall selection is, one is forced to watch movies you've already seen before if you want to watch something good. Recently, I was watching Ridley Scott's classic from 2001, Black Hawk Down. It's a great movie, and hands down one of the best war movies of all time. Although as great as Black Hawk Down is, I kept looking at my phone throughout it. Not because I was bored or on Facebook while watching the flick, but because I kept having to see why a character looked so familiar! I was on IMDB.com so much, because, as it turns out, so many people from the film ended up doing bigger and better things. The film follows a team of 123 elite U.S. soldier in Somalia, and it seems as if 100 of those actors became famous. Below are some of the actors in the movie, and is further proof of why Black Hawk Down has the deepest movie cast of all time. The actors are in ascending order of least important in the film to most important.
Ty Burrell
Who He Is In The Film: Wilkinson, medical team
What He's Most Famous For: Phil Dunphy in Modern Family
More About Him: Burrell is an Emmy winner who is now household name thanks to the huge success of the ABC sitcom Modern Family. Black Hawk Down was one of the first things Burrell did in Hollywood and was just "one of those guys" between 2001 and 2009. Since Modern Family, Burrell has been in the films "Butter" and "Muppets Most Wanted"
Orlando Bloom
Who He Is In The Film: Blackburn, the new recruit who falls out of the helicopter at the beginning of the fighting
What He's Most Famous For: Legolas in the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings films
More About Him: Not only was Bloom a part of one of the most successful movie franchises in the history of American cinema playing the elf Legolas in the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, but he also played Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy- another hugely successful franchise. After starring in the two franchises, Bloom went on to star in another Ridley Scott epic, Kingdom of Heaven, as well as the Cameron Crowe flick Elizabethtown. While his career has since dwindled a bit, he can still be seen the new Hobbit films reprising his role as Legolas.
Ioan Gruffudd
Who He Is In The Film: Beales, the solider with epilepsy
What He's Most Famous For: Mr. Fantastic in The Fantastic 4 franchise
More About Him: Gruffudd hasn't had much success in Hollywood as many other people on this list have, but becoming the lead in a big blockbuster film isn't nothing to sneeze at either. Gruffudd first got his start playing Horatio Hornblower in a series of TV movies and has starred in many films such as Amazing Grace and W. He's also had a litany of guest appearances on such shows as Glee, Family Guy, and Necessary Roughness.
Ron Eldard
Who He Is In The Film: Durant, the paralyzed soldier who gets kidnapped
What He's Most Famous For: Elle Fanning's dad in Super 8
More About Him: Ron Eldard is like Ioan Gruffudd, except without the one big break. However, I included him on this list because when I first saw him on screen, I immediately had to check his IMDB page because I knew I recognized him from somewhere. Lo and behold the first thing that popped up was Super 8 (A great movie currently streaming on Netlfix). He also played Boyd Crowder's friend Colt Rhodes on the excellent Season 4 of the FX show Justified. Eldard also has had reoccurring roles on E.R., Men Behaving Badly, and Bakersfield P.D.
Tom Hardy
Who He Is In The Film: Twombly, the soldier that accidentally deafens Nelson
What He's Most Famous For: Bane in The Dark Knight Rises
More About Him: Tom Hardy's first two projects were war efforts: HBO's Band of Brothers and Black Hawk Down. That makes sense considering the dude is a hulk of a man. But he's also a great actor. He's starred in little known flicks like Nicholas Winding Refn's Bronson and Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla. However, he got his big break playing Eames in Christopher Nolan's instant classic Inception. Since then he's been in huge Hollywood films such as: Warrior, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, This Means War, and Lawless. He'll soon be reprising Mel Gibson's role in the new Mad Max franchise as well as playing Elton John in the biopic Rocketman. Hardy will be nominated for an Oscar sooner rather than later, and he's going to be around for a long, long time.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Who He Is In The Film: Gordon, one of the soliders originally in the sky with Harrell who soon after the fighting begins, comes to rescue the fallen Black Hawk.
What He's Most Famous For: Jamie Lannister on Game of Thrones
More About Him: On an episode of Sundance's "The Writer's Room", David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were asked which role was the hardest to cast on Game of Thrones. Their answer bar none was Jamie Lannister because they needed a charismatic, good-looking, actor in their 30's, who also happened to be a great actor. This was a problem because what they were looking for was an A-list movie star. What they found was Coster-Waldau, who now is on his way to becoming a bona fide A-list movie star. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau has been the best part of Game of Thrones since the beginning of Season 3, surprising his show's brother Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), and has recently starred in #1 hit films such as Mama, Oblivion, and The Other Woman.
Jeremy Piven
Who He Is In The Film: Wolcott, a helicopter pilot
What He's Most Famous For: Ari Gold on Entourage
More About Him: Jeremy Piven has been steadily working since 1986. Seriously, he's been working in Hollywood longer than I've been alive. He has 86 acting credits to his name on IMDB. He was always a bit part actor until 2004's Entourage which earned him a Golden Globe and 3 Emmys. While he's been sort of pigeon holed as "Ari Gold" since then, he's still done about ten 10 movies including: RocknRolla, The Goods, and Smoking Aces. He's currently the star of the PBS show Mr. Selfridge, and will be reprising his role as Ari Gold in the Entourage movie in 2015.
Zeljko Ivanek
Who He Is In The Film: Harrell, one of the main higher ups and the go-between between the cab driver in the beginning of the film and Sam Shepard's Garrison
What He's Most Famous For: Ray Fiske on Damages
More About Him: There's a great documentary that you can currently stream on Netlfix called "That Guy Who Was In That Thing". It follows 16 actors who aren't household names, but have been steadily working in Hollywood for years and decades. Truthfully, the documentary could have just pulled up the Black Hawk Down cast list. Either way, you'd get to find out about the great character actor Zeljko Ivanek. He has over 100 credits to his name on his IMDB page, which includes almost every show imaginable. He's been on The West Wing, Law and Order and SVU, Lost, Heroes, John Adams, Big Love, True Blood, Revolution, and Banshee just to name a few. He won a Primerime Emmy for playing Ray Fiske in 2007. He will soon be seen in the 12 Monkeys TV movie.
Hugh Dancy
Who He Is In The Film: Schmid
What He's Most Famous For: Will Graham in NBC's Hannibal
More About Him: Dancy was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 2006 for his work on the TV movie Elizabeth I. He should have been nominated for his work on the great show Hannibal where he plays the co-lead Will Graham next to Mads Mikkelson's Hannibal Lecter. Like every other actor on this list, he's been in a handful of movies including Confessions of a Shopoholic and Martha Marcy May Marlene. He's also married to Emmy winner Claire Danes.
Jason Isaacs
Who He Is In The Film: Steele, the guy who's always barking orders and demanding respect- basically every Jason Isaacs part
What He's Most Famous For: Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies
More About Him: While Isaacs is probably famous for his role in a hugely successful movie franchise everyone in the world has seen, chances are you probably know him from something else. He was the star of the great but short lived NBC show Awake (which you can currently catch on Netflix streaming), Col. William Tavington in The Patriot and Ronald Quincy in Armageddon. Jason Isaacs is the quintessential soldier and guy to explain key exposition, and that tends to be the movie roles he gets. Also, if you can't get Jason Patric, get Jason Isaacs. You can soon see him in the NBC mini series Rosemary's Baby.
Sam Shepard
Who He Is In The Movie: Garrison, the commander of the mission
What He's Most Famous For: Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff
More About Him: We've had a handful of Emmy nominees and winners already on this list, but not yet any Oscar nominees. That's now changed as Shepard was nominated for an Oscar in 1983 for Best Supporting Actor in The Right Stuff. That's right, he was nominated in 1983. That's almost 20 years before Black Hawk Down was released. As you can guess, he's been in a butt load of things that you've probably seen, but most recently he was one of the many Oscar nominees in August: Osage County as well as the underrated Mud, Out of the Furnace, and Killing Them Softly. You can currently see him in the mini series Klondike and in the indie movie Cold in July with Dexter alum Michael C. Hall.
William Fichtner
Who He Is In The Movie: Sanderson, mainly the guy who always stands up to Jason Isaacs' Steele
What He's Most Famous For: Flanagan in 2004's Crash
More About Him: I mentioned the documentary "That Guy Who Was In That Thing" before when discussing Zeljko Ivanek. To me, the quintessential "guy who was in that thing" is William Fichtner. He's in EVERYTHING. I guarantee you that unless you're a hard core movie buff like myself, you saw Fichtner's picture to the left and went "oh yeah! I know him from something!" He's had minor roles in just about everything. To the bank manager at the beginning of The Dark Knight to Elysium, there's no role Fichtner will turn down. I actually think Fichtner's a great actor who just hasn't gotten his big break yet. You'll soon be able to see him in 2014's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as Shredder.
Eric Bana
Who He Is In The Movie: Hoot
What He's Most Famous For: Bruce Banner in Ang Lee's Hulk
More About Him: I actually don't know what Bana is most famous for because he's been in so many movies. (#Humblebrag!). I personally love him as the lead in Spielberg's Munich. He's also great as the big bad "Nero" in 2009's Star Trek. There are some actors who are just so good looking that Hollywood places them in the "Leading Man" category, but really don't belong there. It's not that they're not talented, but they are more of a character actor. I think the best example is Alec Baldwin. He's amazing in bit parts like The Cooler, Glengarry Glen Ross, and 30 Rock. I think Eric Bana is in the same vein, and the roles he's taken over the past few years show that. Parts in films like Hanna and Funny People really show case his talent without him having to be the lead. Another great example of that? Black Hawk Down.
"If any of us get laid tonight, it's because of Eric Bana in Munich" -Seth Rogen in Knocked Up-
Tom Sizemore
Who He Is In The Movie: McKnight
What He's Most Famous For: Saving Private Ryan
More About Him: I was actually going to put "Black Hawk Down" under what Sizemore is most famous for, and I think that's fair for him considering he truly is one of the leads in the movie. Hell, he's one of the three actors that appears on the Netflix page. Sizemore is a great actor with an incredible resume. He's more than a bit part actor like many of the names you see on this list. He's an actor with a capital "A". He has about 150 credits to his name on his IMDB page including 5 completed projects, 12 projects in post production, and he's currently filming a movie called "24 Hours". Frankly, I shouldn't have to explain to you who Tom Sizemore is.
Ewan McGregor
Who He Is In The Movie: Grimes, the last minute soldier to Eversmann's crew
What He's Most Famous For: Christian in Moulin Rogue
More About Him: There were three roles I could have chosen for McGregor for what he's most famous for. I was deciding between Moulin Rogue, Obi-Wan Kenobi from the Star Wars prequels, or Renton from Trainspotting. Star Wars is huge but are terrible films and Trainspotting is great but a film I don't think many people know about. So I went with the big film people love. Anyways, Ewan McGregor has been the lead in many films including: Big Fish, Robots, Jack The Giant Slayer, and I Love You Philip Morris as well as many, many others. He was last seen in the Oscar nominated August: Osage County and you will soon see him in many other films, including Natalie Portman's Jane's Got A Gun.
Josh Hartnett
Who He Is In The Movie: Eversmann, the ostensible lead
What He's Most Famous For: Pearl Harbor Black Hawk Down
More About Him: Around 2001, Josh Hartnett was the "IT" actor. Sort of like the Vinny Chase of his time. 2001 was the year that both Black Hawk Down and Pearl Harbor came out, and Hartnett was poised to become the new leading man. Unfortunately, Hartnett followed up these films with duds like Lucky Number Slevin, Hollywood Homicide, and 40 Days and 40 Nights. He did have a small part in the fantastic Sin City, but since the mid-2000 horror flicks The Black Dahlia and 30 Days of Night, he hasn't been around much lately. I think Hartnett's biggest problem is that he's charasma-less and speaks with a sort of monotone voice. It definitely shows when watching Black Hawk Down as well. It's weird to think that almost 15 years later after the release of Black Hawk Down, so many people are thriving or stronger than ever, yet the film's star in the one that fades into the distance.
WHO ELSE DID I MISS? WHO ELSE DID YOU RECOGNIZE FROM BLACK HAWK DOWN?
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