Department of Defense gave the producer a platoon of Army Rangers who did the Fast rope scenes
All Black Hawks and Little Birds used during the filming were from the 160th SOAR, (Special Operations Aviation Regiment) and most of the pilots were involved in the actual battle on 3/4 October 1993. A lot of the extra Rangers in the film were current Rangers, serving with the 3/75 Ranger Regiment
The photo of a wife and child that one of the soldiers is looking at is actually a photo of Eric Bana's wife and child. The props department forgot to take a photo of a wife and child with them, so and asked Bana's wife and child who were traveling with him if they could use a photo of them in the movie.
Steven Zaillian, as script doctor, did an uncredited re-write on the script.
Disney passed on distributing this film because of its violent R rating. Its eventual distributor, Revolution, is run by ex-Disney studios chairman Joe Roth.
This project was originally the idea of director Simon West who urged producer Jerry Bruckheimer to obtain the rights of the book with a view to directing it himself. However, West abandoned the project to direct Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001).
Army pilot Keith Jones reenacted his real-life rescue of Delta operator Daniel Busch (Richard Tyson) for this film.
Josh Hartnett, 'Sizmore, Tom' , 'Bremner, Ewan' William Fichtner and Kim Coates all previously worked together in another movie about war, Pearl Harbor (2001).
Eighteen soldiers lost their lives during the raid. The epilogue lists 19. Eighteen of the soldiers who died were Rangers and Delta operators. There was also a soldier, PFC James Martin, from 2-14 Infantry, 10th Mountain Division, who died during the battles of 3/4 October. The 2-14 Infantry was the Army unit sent in to rescue the Rangers. As well, Matt Rierson, who is also in the list, died days after the battle when Somalians attacked the Airport with mortars.
Some of the scenes on the monitors behind Major General Garrison are actual satellite images of the battle.
All the actors portraying Rangers and Deltas went through a two week boot camp program.
Two of the Black Hawk helicopters used in the film were named the "Armageddon" (film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer) and the "Gladiator" (directed by Ridley Scott). Producer Jerry Bruckheimer believed this to be a sign of good luck.
The scene where a U.S. soldiers falls out of the truck in the convoy was an outtake, but director Ridley Scott felt that it was funny and should be left in the movie.
The film features soldiers wearing helmets with their last names on them. Although this was an inaccuracy, Ridley Scott felt it was necessary to have the helmets to help the audience to distinguish between the characters because they all look the same once the uniforms are on.
Specialist Grimes, portrayed by Ewan McGregor, is a fictional character, though given his administrative position and penchant for coffee, he is unabashedly based on the real-life Ranger clerk Spc John Stebbins, who was awarded the Silver Star for his actions during the battle. However, Stebbins was convicted in 2000 for child molestation and is currently serving a 30-year jail term. As a result, the Pentagon apparently pressured screenwriters to alter his name in the film, although a spokeswoman for the movie defended the change as "a creative decision made by the producers."
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