Directed by Michael Bay, Armageddon is a hell of a movie. The thriller movie epic centres around an asteroid the size of Texas hurtling towards the Earth — and for NASA, the only way to save the planet is by gathering a rag-tag, misfit group of deep-core drillers.
Steve Buscemi plays quirky geologist Rockhound and forms part of the supporting cast alongside some of the best actors in the business, such as Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Billy Bob Thornton, Will Patton, and Owen Wilson.
While Armageddon ended up being one of the best movies of the year, it’s also, to be frank, a little bit bonkers. We know the best science fiction movies are meant to be a little out there, but Armageddon takes it to another level.
In a 2o17 talk with SAG-AFTRA, Billy Bob Thornton, who played NASA scientist Dan Truman, shared some anecdotes as to how one of the best ’90s movies came to be — including a pretty insightful table read where Steve Buscemi pretty much said what everyone else was thinking.
“So we had a table read-through over at the Four Seasons,” he recalled. “I’m sitting there [with] Steve Buscemi, and Will Patton and Owen [Wilson] and we’re waiting to start the thing, you know? And I’m looking at Owen, and he’s looking at me, and Steve Busciemi’s looking over at me and I think ‘We’ll have fun,’ because we assume he’s really funny. He’s always made me laugh.”
“But in total seriousness, [Steve] looked at us, and he looks over at me, he goes, ‘Hey, man, what the hell are we doing?'”
In the end, Armageddon got nominated for four Academy Awards, was the highest-grossing movie worldwide for 1998, and led to Aerosmith’s smash hit power ballad, ‘Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing.’ Even though the film had a mixed critical reception, the success spoke for itself — but we don’t blame Steve for being a little puzzled.
For more sci-fi fun, return to Pandora with our guide to new movie Avatar 3.