The cast of the latest hit WW2 drama Masters of the Air weren’t exactly given all-star treatment ahead of filming - in fact, they were forced to endure a harsh bootcamp.
If you had impressed a casting director enough to be a star character in a World War 2 drama helmed by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, you might think it'd be a breeze.
Lazy morning, couple hours of filming your scenes and then off you pop to a bar for drinks paid for by the network, right?
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Oh, no, no, no. Not even close to reality for the all-star cast of Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air.
The cast includes an impressive lineup of talent including Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Barry Keoghan, Anthony Boyle, Nate Mann, and Rafferty Law to name a few.
Each actor quickly learnt this TV miniseries, looking at the US Airforce during the war, more specifically the ‘Bloody Hundredth’, would not be like their previous roles.
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These ‘maggots’ were told to report to bootcamp, say goodbye to their daily comforts, and were forced to get a taste of the intense training conditions of soldiers who were forced to prepare for an all-out fight against Nazi Germany.
Speaking to UNILAD, Mann and Boyle explained how cast members bonded and grew into their characters in conditions that would likely be described as the fortnight from hell.
"We had this two weeklong bootcamp, where we were put in uniform [by] this legendary military advisor named Dale Dye who worked on Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers etc,” Mann said.
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“He took us through it, we were marching in step, we were calling each other [by our character’s names], we were trying to sort out the rank and file of what life was like for these guys."
Despite this, Mann said the ordeal ultimately helped with the filming experience and it was at bootcamp where the actors got to know one another.
He went as far to call it 'wonderful' - not exactly the word I would use, but hey, whatever gets you prepared for a smashing performance.
Boyle also explained that all the stars, and extras, were in uniform throughout, and had to call each other by their character’s name.
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This all took place while an army general would call them names and force them to crawl through the mud.
“[There were] horror stories about [the Band of Brothers cast] trudging through the forest - ours was always going to be different,” Mann said.
“Different because of the nature of it, it revolves around these machines that we had to learn.”
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“More cerebral,” Boyle chimed in.
The Irish actor added that his bootcamp wasn’t bloodless though, as he ended up with so many paper cuts due to working with maps since his character was a navigator.
They were also told exactly what switches they needed to flip and how their gauges worked, so they at least looked like they knew what they were doing.
“Obviously that was a learning curve, but pretty satisfying," Mann concluded.
Well, all in all it seemed to work to their advantage, as every actor gives an unforgettable and intense performance which has resulted in the show being well received by fans and critics.
The first two episodes of Masters of the Air are currently available to stream on Apple TV+.
The next episode is set to air on February 2.
Topics: Apple, Film and TV, World War 2