| Kevin Costner |
Kenny O'Donnell, Special Assistant to the President |
| Bruce Greenwood |
President John F. Kennedy |
| Steven Culp |
Atty. Gen. Robert F. Kennedy |
| Dylan Baker |
Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense |
| Michael Fairman |
Adlai Stevenson, US Ambassador to the UN |
| Henry Strozier |
Dean Rusk, Secretary of State |
| Frank Wood |
McGeorge Bundy, National Security Advisor |
| Kevin Conway |
Gen. Curtis LeMay, Air Force Chief of Staff |
| Tim Kelleher |
Ted Sorensen, Special Counsel to the President |
| Len Cariou |
Dean Acheson, Foreign Policy Advisor |
The film is set during the two-week Cuban missile crisis in October of 1962, and it centers on how President John F. Kennedy, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, and others handled the explosive situation.