Advertisement

Armageddon: Where are the cast now?

Photo credit: Buena Vista
Photo credit: Buena Vista

From Digital Spy

Just celebrating its 20th anniversary– yes, you read right, twentieth – Jerry Bruckheimer's blockbuster Armageddon boasted a cast that were out of this world.

From Bruce Willis to Ben Affleck to Liv Tyler, this was an impressive roster. Well, you would need that much talent that magnitude if you wanted to save the Earth from impending annihilation by an errant asteroid.

Since then, some of the actors and actresses involved have gone on to better, though mostly not bigger, things. Here's what they've been up to since – some of them have barely aged a day.

Bruce Willis

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

The Die Hard actor's career was in a slight slump just before he took on the part of genius old driller, Harry S. Stamper. Armageddon gave him a much-needed box office smash and Willis followed it up the following year with another global hit, The Sixth Sense.

Since then, Bruce's CV makes for some fascinating reading, including: an Emmy-winning (not to mention scene-stealing) turn on TV show Friends; interesting choices such as Sin City, Moonrise Kingdom and Looper; blockbusters like The Expendables (and its first sequel) and Unbreakable; dumb dross in the shape of Cop Out, Death Wish and Hostage; and two new Die Hard movies that nobody cared about.

Next year, however, sees Willis return to the Unbreakable franchise, teaming up with Samuel L Jackson once more in Glass, which we're all much more excited for.

Billy Bob Thornton

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

It's fair to say that Thornton's career hasn't since reached the box office heights of Armageddon where he played NASA Project Director Dan Truman.

But his subsequent career on the big and small screen is anything but predictable; from the underrated and underseen Pushing Tin in 1999, to a memorable role opposite Hugh Grant as the US President in Love Actually, to Bad Santa (1 and 2).

Recently, the actor picked up a Golden Globe for his role in the first season of Fargo and plays the lead role in Amazon show, Goliath. Later this year, he's back in cinemas alongside Cara Delevingne, Amber Heard and Johnny Depp in the adaptation of the Martin Amis novel, London Fields.

Elsewhere, Billy Bob loves a tune. In the Noughties, he released four solo albums and then followed that up with five(!) more albums with his band The Boxmasters.

Liv Tyler

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

Within a year of playing Grace Stamper (daughter of Bruce Willis' character and love interest of Ben Affleck's), Tyler had been cast in the prestigious role of Arwen in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The films, as you may remember, did quite well at the box office making Tyler one of the few cast members to better the financial success of Armageddon.

Since then, it's been a quiet time on the big-screen, with only a handful of movies; like Jersey Girl (reuniting with Affleck); a foray into the MCU with The Incredible Hulk; and the surprisingly successful budget horror flick, The Strangers.

A move to London in 2016 has seen Tyler take roles in UK television productions Gunpowder and Harlots after a memorable stint as Meg Abbot in HBO's The Leftovers.

Will Patton

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

Playing Harry Stamper's buddy and colleague Chick, Patton reunited with Willis almost immediately in the woeful Breakfast of Champions in 1999. More hits did come, however, in the form of Entrapment and Gone in Sixty Seconds.

On the small screen, Will had major roles in season 7 of 24 and Falling Skies. This October, he stars in the sequel to 1978's Halloween, the imaginatively titled Halloween.

Peter Stormare

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

One of the film industry's go-to guys for playing Eastern European heavies (despite the fact he's Swedish), Stormare played Russian cosmonaut Lev Andropov.

You'll be hard pushed to find a harder-working actor with a more diverse career, amassing Joel Schumacher's 8MM, Steven Spielberg's Minority Report, Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark, Wim Wenders' The Million Dollar Hotel, and Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus under his belt, to name but a few.

Alongside this, Stormare is an impressive voice actor and can be heard in Adventure Time, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Penguins of Madagascar, while you can also catch him in the flresh in American Gods.

Like his co-stars Willis and Thornton, Stormare is a keen musician. He released a solo album in 2002, plays in "celebrity rock band" Blonde from Fargo and runs his own record label.

Steve Buscemi

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

The man behind Rockhound, a geologist on Stamper's team aboard the ship Freedom, has made a career of playing comedic off-kilter and left field characters (see Reservoir Dogs, The Wedding Singer and Con Air).

After Armageddon, he dipped in and out of indie features (Ghost World), kid flicks (scary Randall Boggs in Monsters Inc., and Monsters University, the voice of Wayne in the Hotel Transylvania franchise) and comedies (a hilarious turn as Khrushchev in Armando Iannucci's The Death of Stalin).

Buscemi also made a profound mark on television, starring as Tony Blundetto in The Sopranos and picking up a Golden Globe for his role as Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson in Boardwalk Empire. He'll be seen playing God with Daniel Radcliffe next year in new sitcom Miracle Workers from US channel TBS.

Buscemi is also a talent behind the camera too, having directed four feature films as well as TV shows such as the aforementioned The Sopranos, 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Keith David

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

The nuke-loving General Kimsey has barely been off cinema screens in the past two decades in films ranging from the likes of There's Something About Mary, to Crash (2004), to the Agent Cody Banks and Riddick franchises. Something for everyone.

Currently, he's starring as Bishop James Greenleaf in the Oprah Winfrey Network show, Greenleaf.

David's voice work has also earned him plaudits over the years, with four Emmy wins for narration duties on documentaries. Disney fans will also know him as Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog.

William Fichtner

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

Armageddon's prickly Colonel Willie Sharp, Fichtner is rarely the leading man but always puts in a memorable performance.

He landed roles in Noughties big budget movies The Perfect Storm, Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down and as that bank manager in the opening sequence of The Dark Knight.

On the small screen, Fichtner made a name for himself as Alexander Mahone in Prison Break whilst he's been hosting Top Gear America since 2017 and starring as former stuntman Adam in sitcom Mom, now approaching its sixth season.

Michael Clarke Duncan

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

Now sadly no longer with us, Duncan is perhaps best known for his Oscar-nommed supporting role in The Green Mile, which came just a year after playing member of the shuttle Independence, J. Otis "Bear" Kurleenbear.

The hits continued to follow with blockbusters like Planet of the Apes, The Scorpion Kingand Sin City whilst he also enjoyed success with kids' films such as Cats & Dogs, Brother Bear (1 and 2), and Kung Fu Panda.

Duncan died of a heart attack at the age of just 54 in 2012.

Ben Affleck

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

Liv Tyler's love interest and scourge of her father Bruce Willis, Affleck had just bagged an Oscar for Good Will Hunting when he took on the deadly asteroid.

His career took quite the dip with film flops like Gigli and Paycheck, but he later took back control of his career, taking on writing and directorial duties on Gone Baby Gone, The Town and then bagged his second Oscar for 2012's Argo.

In recent years, he's been donning the cape and cowl as Batman in the DCEU, though his future as the Caped Crusader may be in doubt.

Jessica Steen

Sadly, for Steen, her role as shuttle pilot Jennifer Watts didn't launch a stellar movie career. If you've seen, or could even track down copies of, Apocalypse IV: Judgment or Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice then you've managed better than us.

The Canadian has, though, put together a very acceptable television resume, with shows like Stargate SG-1, Supernatural, Grey's Anatomy and a recurring role in NCIS. whilst Steen remains part of the cast for the tenth season of CBS show Heartlands.

Owen Wilson

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

He rocked playing geologist Oscar Choice in Armageddon but it was for the more light-hearted roles that followed that Wilson's best known.

His comedic talents shone in Meet the Parents, Zoolander, Starsky & Hutch and Wedding Crashers while he found fame with youngsters in films like Cars and the Night at the Museum franchise.

Special mention must go to his numerous collaborations with filmmaker and friend, Wes Anderson, since 1998: The Royal Tenenbaums (which he co-wote and was Oscar-nominated for), Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Darjeeling Limited, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Recent years have seen his star wane somewhat, as he fell prey to neverending sequelitis – Cars 2 and 3, Zoolander 2 and Little Fockers. Currently, Wilson can be seen incorrectly quoting Shakespeare in an ad campaign for Sofology, the sofa people.


Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Instagram and Twitter account.

('You Might Also Like',)