Is this the kind of role you might have played as a kid, a soldier in the heat of battle?

I suppose I had a passion for the great old war movies as a kid and have enjoyed the war movies from Vietnam very much. I don't think I imagined I would be in a film like this really, but here I am.

What was the real appeal in playing your character, John Grimes?

I took the book that the film is based on with me on a flight, and I could not stop turning the pages. I had to keep reminding myself that this was not fiction, this was what happened and these were in fact real characters. I was struck by the mayhem of it and I have always been rather fascinated by, not war itself, but men in war. How does the mind work under fire, that you can hold it together to perform any act at all, far less complicated strategic acts? I was very fortunate to work with a props master in Utah who had done two tours of duty in Vietnam, and he was very open discussing things like that with me.

What do you think audiences will gain from it?

I think it's a very important story. We never see these pictures on the television, we never see what is required of soldiers in a modern day war, especially an urban fighting situation. But after seeing "Black Hawk Down" you will absolutely know what it is like.