Roland Emmerich is mostly known for blowing up the White House or freezing Manhattan, so when he tackled the cast of the movie midway, people were skeptical. Could the guy who gave us Independence Day actually handle the gravity of 1942? Honestly, he mostly pulled it off, largely because he didn't just cast "action stars." He picked a weirdly specific mix of grizzled character actors and young faces who actually looked like they belonged in a cockpit.
The 2019 film isn't just about the CGI explosions, though there are plenty. It’s about the faces. If you look at the real photos of Dick Best or Edwin Layton, the casting choices start to make a lot more sense. They weren't just looking for A-listers to sell tickets; they were looking for guys who could carry the weight of a turning point in world history.
Ed Skrein and the Intensity of Dick Best
Let’s talk about Ed Skrein. You probably know him as the original Daario Naharis from Game of Thrones or the villain in Deadpool. In Midway, he plays Lieutenant Richard "Dick" Best. It’s a performance that some critics found a bit "extra," but if you read the historical accounts of Best, the guy was kind of intense.
Best was a dive-bomber pilot who literally crippled two Japanese aircraft carriers in a single day. That's not normal. Skrein plays him with this constant, simmering frustration. He’s the guy who doesn't just follow orders; he executes them with a chip on his shoulder. It’s a polarizing performance, but it anchors the film's flight deck scenes.
The Strategic Brains: Patrick Wilson and Woody Harrelson
Then you have the guys in the basements and on the command decks. Patrick Wilson plays Edwin Layton, the intelligence officer who had to convince the brass that he knew exactly where the Japanese fleet was headed. Wilson is great at playing "smartest guy in the room who is also terrified no one will listen to him."
His chemistry with Woody Harrelson—who plays Admiral Chester Nimitz—is the secret sauce of the movie.
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Harrelson is an interesting choice for Nimitz. Usually, we see Nimitz portrayed as this stoic, untouchable figure of authority. Harrelson gives him a bit more humanity. He wears the wig, he wears the uniform, but he keeps that slight Texas drawl and a look in his eyes that says he knows he’s gambling thousands of lives on a hunch. It’s less "General Patton" and more "overworked CEO."
The Cryptologists in the Basement
- Brennan Brown as Joseph Rochefort: If you want to talk about scene-stealers, it’s Brennan Brown. He plays the eccentric codebreaker who worked in his bathrobe in a windowless room called "The Dungeon." He’s the reason the U.S. won, period. Brown brings a frantic, neurotic energy that breaks up the stiff military dialogue.
- The stakes: Without Rochefort and Layton, the cast of the movie midway would have just been playing out a massacre. They provided the "how" and the "why" behind the "boom."
Luke Evans and the Naval Aviation Old Guard
Luke Evans plays Wade McClusky. While Skrein’s Dick Best is the hothead, Evans plays McClusky as the weary professional. It’s a subtle contrast. Evans has this classic Hollywood look that fits perfectly in a 1940s cockpit.
There’s a specific scene where McClusky has to make a split-second decision when they find the Japanese fleet isn't where it’s supposed to be. Evans sells that moment of sheer, gut-wrenching indecision perfectly. He doesn't say much. He just looks at the fuel gauge and then at the horizon. It’s good acting.
Nick Jonas and the "Everyman" Sacrifice
A lot of people rolled their eyes when Nick Jonas was announced as part of the cast of the movie midway. It felt like stunt casting. But honestly? He’s actually pretty good. He plays Bruno Gaido, a real-life machinist’s mate who became a legend for jumping into a parked SBD Dauntless and shooting down a Japanese bomber that was trying to crash into the USS Enterprise.
His story arc is one of the most brutal in the film. It serves as a reminder that the Battle of Midway wasn't just won by pilots and admirals. It was won by kids on the deck who did things that were borderline suicidal because they had to.
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Dennis Quaid as "Bull" Halsey
You can't have a naval movie without a grizzled veteran. Dennis Quaid shows up as William "Bull" Halsey. He’s covered in shingles (the skin condition, not the roofing material) and spends most of the movie looking like he wants to punch the ocean. Quaid is playing a caricature here, but Halsey was a caricature in many ways. It provides a nice link to the older generation of Navy leadership.
The Japanese Perspective: Etsushi Toyokawa and Tadanobu Asano
One thing Emmerich did right—and this is often overlooked—was casting Japanese actors to play the Japanese commanders. They didn't just make them faceless villains.
- Etsushi Toyokawa as Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto: He plays Yamamoto with a sense of tragic inevitability. He knows that waking the "sleeping giant" was a mistake, even as he executes the plan.
- Tadanobu Asano as Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi: Asano is a powerhouse. His final scenes on the sinking carrier Hiryu are some of the most emotional in the entire two-hour-plus runtime.
By giving the Japanese side actual weight, the stakes for the American characters feel higher. It’s not a cartoon. It’s a chess match between two very different cultures.
Accuracy vs. Entertainment: Did the Cast Get it Right?
People often ask if the actors portrayed the real people accurately. For the most part, yes.
The real Dick Best was known to be incredibly demanding and confident. The real Edwin Layton was obsessed with the details of his work. The real Joseph Rochefort was indeed a bit of an outcast who didn't fit the "military mold."
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The movie takes liberties with the timeline and some of the physics of the planes, but the "vibe" of the characters is surprisingly close to the historical record. If you watch the 1976 version of Midway, the characters feel like cardboard cutouts. In the 2019 version, they feel like people who are incredibly stressed and haven't slept in three days.
Why This Ensemble Matters Today
We live in an era of superhero movies where the stakes are multiversal and fake. Midway works because the cast of the movie midway represents people who actually existed. When you see Aaron Eckhart as Jimmy Doolittle leading the raid on Tokyo, you're seeing a dramatization of something that actually changed the course of the 20th century.
It’s easy to get lost in the CGI. But if you watch it again, pay attention to the smaller moments. Look at Darren Criss as Eugene Lindsey, knowing his squadron is likely flying into a death trap but going anyway. Or Mandy Moore as Anne Best, portraying the quiet, agonizing wait of the families back in Pearl Harbor.
That’s where the movie finds its heart. It’s not in the 50-caliber fire or the sinking ships. It’s in the eyes of the actors trying to convey what it’s like to know you’re probably not coming home for dinner.
Practical Ways to Learn More About the Real Figures
If you walked away from the movie wanting to know more about the actual history, there are a few things you should do next. Don't just rely on the film; Emmerich is great, but he's a filmmaker, not a historian.
- Read "Shattered Sword" by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully. This is widely considered the definitive account of the battle from the Japanese perspective. It will give you a whole new appreciation for the performances of Toyokawa and Asano.
- Watch the original 1942 footage. John Ford was actually at Midway during the battle and filmed it. You can find "The Battle of Midway" on various streaming platforms. Seeing the real grainy footage of the planes the actors were "flying" puts the whole thing in perspective.
- Look up the flight records of Dick Best. Knowing that he actually did sink two carriers in one day makes Ed Skrein’s performance seem a lot less like "movie magic" and more like a tribute to a genuinely superhuman feat.
- Visit the USS Midway Museum in San Diego. If you're ever in California, standing on the deck of a carrier (even though the Midway was commissioned just after the war ended) gives you a sense of scale that no movie screen can replicate.
The cast of the movie midway did a heavy lift. They had to balance being "cool" enough for a summer blockbuster while being respectful enough for a historical record. It's a tough line to walk, and while the movie has its flaws, the ensemble gave those names on the memorials a bit of life again.