Query: The Thin Red Line (1998 film) features a performance by an American actor.

Relevant passages:
Nick Nolte <=SEP=> Nicholas King Nolte ( born February 8 , 1941 ) is an American actor and former model . He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor -- Motion Picture Drama , and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1991 film The Prince of Tides . He went on to receive Academy Award nominations for Affliction ( 1998 ) and Warrior ( 2011 ) . His other film appearances include The Deep ( 1977 ) , 48 Hrs . ( 1982 ) , Down and Out in Beverly Hills ( 1986 ) , Another 48 Hrs . ( 1990 ) , Everybody Wins ( 1990 ) , Cape Fear ( 1991 ) , Lorenzo 's Oil ( 1992 ) , The Thin Red Line ( 1998 ) , Hulk ( 2003 ) , The Good Thief ( 2003 ) , Hotel Rwanda ( 2004 ) , Tropic Thunder ( 2008 ) , A Walk in the Woods ( 2015 ) and The Ridiculous 6 ( 2015 ) . He was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor -- Television Series Musical or Comedy for his role in the TV series Graves ( 2016 -- present ) .

Sean Penn <=SEP=> Sean Justin Penn ( born August 17 , 1960 ) is an American actor , filmmaker , and political activist . He has won two Academy Awards , for his roles in the mystery drama Mystic River ( 2003 ) and the biopic Milk ( 2008 ) .   Penn began his acting career in television with a brief appearance in episode 112 of Little House on the Prairie ( December 4 , 1974 ) , directed by his father Leo Penn. . Following his film debut in the drama Taps ( 1981 ) and a diverse range of film roles in the 1980s , including Fast Times at Ridgemont High ( 1982 ) , Penn garnered critical attention for his roles in the crime dramas At Close Range ( 1986 ) , State of Grace ( 1990 ) , and Carlito 's Way ( 1993 ) . He became known as a prominent leading actor with the drama Dead Man Walking ( 1995 ) , for which he earned his first Academy Award nomination and the Best Actor Award at the Berlin Film Festival . Penn received another two Oscar nominations for Woody Allen 's comedy-drama Sweet and Lowdown ( 1999 ) and the drama I Am Sam ( 2001 ) , before winning his first Academy Award for Best Actor in 2003 for Mystic River and a second one in 2008 for Milk . He has also won a Best Actor Award of the Cannes Film Festival for the Nick Cassavetes-directed She 's So Lovely ( 1997 ) , and two Best Actor Awards at the Venice Film Festival for the indie film Hurlyburly ( 1998 ) and the drama 21 Grams ( 2003 ) .   Penn made his feature film directorial debut with The Indian Runner ( 1991 ) , followed by the drama film The Crossing Guard ( 1995 ) and the mystery film The Pledge ( 2001 ) . Penn directed one of the 11 segments of 11 ' 09 `` 01 September 11 ( 2002 ) , a compilation film made in response to the September 11 attacks . His fourth feature film , the biographical drama survival movie Into the Wild ( 2007 ) , garnered critical acclaim and two Academy Award nominations .   In addition to his film work , Penn is known for his political and social activism , including his criticism of the George W. Bush administration , his contact with the Presidents of Cuba and Venezuela , and his humanitarian work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina ( 2005 ) and the 2010 Haiti earthquake . In January 2016 , Penn published an interview ( conducted in October 2015 ) with Mexican drug lord Joaquín `` El Chapo '' Guzmán in Rolling Stone . Mexican authorities dismissed the level of importance given by American media to Penn in regard to Guzman 's eventual recapture , instead placing importance on actress Kate del Castillo 's continued communications with Guzman .

Jim Caviezel <=SEP=> James Patrick `` Jim '' Caviezel ( born September 26 , 1968 ) is an American actor , best known for portraying Jesus Christ in the 2004 film The Passion of the Christ . Other notable roles include Private Witt in The Thin Red Line ( 1998 ) , Detective John Sullivan in Frequency ( 2000 ) , Jim McCormick in Madison , Catch in Angel Eyes ( 2001 ) , Johannes in I Am David , Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte Cristo ( 2002 ) , golfer Bobby Jones in Bobby Jones : Stroke of Genius ( 2004 ) , and Carroll Oerstadt in Déjà Vu ( 2006 ) . From 2011 until 2016 , he starred as John Reese on the CBS science-fiction crime drama series Person of Interest .

The Thin Red Line (1998 film) <=SEP=> The Thin Red Line is a 1998 American ensemble epic war film written and directed by Terrence Malick . Based on the novel by James Jones , it tells a semi-fictionalized version of the Battle of Mount Austen , which was part of the Guadalcanal Campaign in the Pacific Theater of World War II . It portrays soldiers of C Company , 1st Battalion , 27th Infantry Regiment , 25th Infantry Division , played by Sean Penn , Jim Caviezel , Nick Nolte , Elias Koteas and Ben Chaplin . Although the title may seem to refer to a line from Rudyard Kipling 's poem `` Tommy '' , from Barrack-Room Ballads , in which he calls foot soldiers `` the thin red line of heroes '' , referring to the stand of the 93rd Regiment in the Battle of Balaclava of the Crimean War , it is in reality a quote from Jones 's book which reads , `` they discover the thin red line that divides the sane from the mad ... and the living from the dead ... ''   The film marked Malick 's return to filmmaking after a 20-year absence . It co-stars Nick Nolte , Adrien Brody , George Clooney , John Cusack , Woody Harrelson , Elias Koteas , Jared Leto , John C. Reilly , and John Travolta . Reportedly , the first assembled cut took seven months to edit and ran five hours . By the final cut , footage of performances by Bill Pullman , Lukas Haas , and Mickey Rourke had been removed ( although one of Rourke 's scenes was included in the special features outtakes of the Criterion Blu-ray and DVD release ) . The film was scored by Hans Zimmer , and shot by John Toll . Principal photography took place in New Zealand , and Australia in the state of Queensland .   The film grossed $ 98 million against its $ 52 million budget . Critical response was generally positive and the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards : Best Picture , Best Director , Best Adapted Screenplay , Best Cinematography , Best Film Editing , Best Original Score and Best Sound Mixing . It won the Golden Bear at the 1999 Berlin International Film Festival . Martin Scorsese ranked it as his second favorite film of the 1990s on At the Movies . Gene Siskel called it `` the greatest contemporary war film I 've seen '' .   A previous film adaptation of the novel was released in 1964 .