Why Steven Spielberg Threatened To Fire An Actor From Saving Private Ryan

The late Tom Sizemore, star of films like "Born on the Fourth of July," "Natural Born Killers," "Heat," "Strange Days," and "The Relic," passed away on March 3, 2023, at the age of 61. He suffered a brain aneurysm. Sizemore faced struggles throughout his life and had been accused of many acts of grievous wrongdoing. Most specifically, Sizemore always wrestled with substance addiction, an issue he endured since he was a teenager. He was repeatedly in trouble with the law because of his addictions, facing possession arrests throughout his life. He was also accused multiple times of domestic abuse and faced legal consequences several times. In 2013, Robert De Niro, a friend, personally checked him into rehab. 

Sizemore's drug problems were already an open Hollywood secret in 1997 when Steven Spielberg was making his celebrated war picture "Saving Private Ryan." In that film, Sizemore was cast as Mike Horvath, one member of the platoon of WWII soldiers sent into a particularly dangerous area of Germany to rescue the titular Private (Matt Damon). Horvath was a tortured character, clearly having pushed himself too far on the battlefield, but unable to acknowledge that me might be burned out. He gives a very good performance. 

Spielberg recognized Sizemore's talent and trusted that he would be able to remain clean for the film's 58-day shoot. Spielberg knew that Sizemore's previous addictions were a potential liability that needed to be addressed. In a 2010 interview with the Daily Beast, Sizemore revealed that Spielberg once gave him an ultimatum: Sizemore would subject himself to daily drug tests at Spielberg's behest. If he failed just one of them, then Spielberg would reshoot the entire movie without him. That was motivation enough to keep Sizemore on the straight and narrow. 

Sizemore recalled the daily drug tests on the set of "Private Ryan" and the rule he had to follow. He also knew that, when he gave the interview, he wouldn't need such an ultimatum, trying to remain optimistic. Sizemore said: 

"[Spielberg] would fire me on the spot and shoot all 58 days that I'd worked over again with someone else. [...] I wouldn't need that type of threat now."

The fact that Sizemore appears in "Saving Private Ryan" is a testament to his sobriety at the time. He took the drug tests and remained sober for the full 58 days. Sizemore turned down a role in Terrence Malick's WWII picture "The Thin Red Line" to work on "Saving Private Ryan," and Malick may not have made a similar ultimatum. Either way, Sizemore would have made the right decision; both "Thin Red Line" and "Saving Private Ryan" were nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards that year. 

Sadly, Sizemore was not able to retain his sobriety, eventually facing multiple drug-related arrests throughout the 2000s. He failed drug tests repeatedly while on probation following a domestic abuse arrest in 2003, and was arrested again in 2007 for meth possession. It wasn't until about 2010 that Sizemore would check into rehab with De Niro at his side. His sobriety was still peppered with abuse scandals, and he would be arrested again in 2019 on additional drug charges.

Throughout all of this, Sizemore continued to work and was so busy, he appeared in four movies after his death. He made 10 features in 2022 alone, mostly low-budget genre and crime films. It's a pity he wasn't able to stay on the right path.