When it comes to the best war movies, few come close to the intensity of Black Hawk Down. Inspired by the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia, Ridley Scott’s star-studded thriller follows a group of elite soldiers as they find themselves in a brutal fight for survival after a mission goes awry. Based on what cast member Orlando Bloom has said, making the movie wasn’t for the faint of heart.
Recently, the Lord of the Rings star opened up about playing Todd Blackburn in one of his first major film roles. During an appearance at Fan Expo Chicago 2025 (via EW), he said the experience "was like from the frying pan into the fire" and that he was "being ordered around and screamed at” before filming even began. In fact, the actor spared few details when talking about what it took to be a part of Black Hawk Down.
We went to Fort Benning. It was so brutal. I mean, it was like, I think I almost tore... I slightly tore my meniscus in my knee, but I managed to strap it and get through it.
Though Bloom was able to push through his injuries and be a part of the eventual shoot, Ben Foster wasn’t as lucky. Originally set to play Jamie Smith, Foster “properly tore his groin muscle” and actually had to be recast due to the severity of his injury. It sounds like an ordeal, to say the least.
Putting actors through an intensive training program before a single frame is shot seems very on-brand for Ridley Scott, a filmmaker known for not settling for anything less than perfection, or at least authenticity. When asked about the demanding process of getting ready for one of the most realistic war movies ever made, Bloom responded:
Yeah, it was intense. We were in the bunks and being ordered around and screamed at and yelled at, and really, it was an intense thing.
Though Bloom had a very tough go at it while training for one of his breakout performances, when it came time to shoot the movie in Morocco, he had a different problem. Due to his character only being in a small portion of Black Hawk Down – he falls out of the helicopter and is injured – Bloom found himself on a start-and-stop shooting schedule for the better part of six months:
We spent six months in Morocco, and we were sporadic in filming — and I'm really only in the beginning bit, and then fall from the helicopter, and then I'm there — it's sporadic, but I felt like I was there forever because you're a young actor and they can pay you to be there, which was great.
That said, the Pirates of the Caribbean star did admit he had a “great time in Morocco,” as he was able to travel between shooting days and learn a lot about the different cultures of the African nation.
It has been nearly 25 years since Black Hawk Down introduced Orlando Bloom to the intensity of basic training and the even more intense process of being in one of the best Ridley Scott movies, but it’s something that he’s still very proud of after all this time.
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