Actor and Marine veteran Rob Riggle has questioned whether today's Hollywood stars would make the same wartime sacrifice as Jimmy Stewart, who left an Oscar-winning career to enlist as a private in the US Army Air Corps before America entered the Second World War. Riggle, who plays Stewart's squadron commander in the upcoming biopic "Jimmy", said he would be "surprised" if any actor of similar status made the same choice today, noting Stewart was already an established Academy Award winner when he chose to serve in combat rather than take a safer publicity role.

Stewart enlisted in March 1941, just weeks after winning the best actor Oscar for "The Philadelphia Story", having earlier gained weight deliberately to meet the military's height and weight requirements. Despite the army's efforts to keep him stateside as a flight instructor, he pushed for overseas combat duty and was sent to England in 1943, ultimately flying 20 combat missions as a bomber pilot and rising from private to colonel, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross among other honours. Riggle praised Stewart's willingness to risk his life and highlighted the psychological toll of command, noting that Stewart suffered lasting trauma consistent with what would now be recognised as PTSD.