Production
The actors who portrayed SEALs underwent a two-week boot camp; during principal photography, they had to address and refer to each other by character name — even off camera, to improve interaction. Tears of the Sun is the first film photographed on the Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman. The SH-60B Seahawk helicopters in the film are from HSL-37, the "Easy Riders" stationed at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Oahu, Hawaii. The F/A-18A Hornet jet fighters are from VFA-204, the "River Rattlers". VFA-204 is a Navy Reserve strike fighter squadron at Naval Air Station New Orleans.
The shooting was touched by misfortune when actor Kevin Tod Smith, cast as one of the SEALs, died accidentally, while visiting a film set in China. On February 6, 2002, while waiting for a ride back to his hotel, and after completing work on Warriors of Virtue 2, Smith decided to walk about the Central China Television film studio grounds, and climbed a prop tower in a set of another film, lost his footing and fell approximately three stories, severely injuring his head. He was taken to a hospital, then transferred to Beijing. He lapsed into a coma and was on life support for ten days, until it was discontinued. He died on February 15, 2002, without regaining consciousness.
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