Coming up with an impressive lineup of talent including Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Barry Keoghan, and more, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg delivered the flawless Apple TV show Masters of the Air. While fans noticed and appreciated the onscreen scenes, a lot was going on behind the scenes in preparation for the World War 2 drama series.
One such preparation included a cockpit contest between the actors, which is actually a game played by real pilots. According to Callum Turner, the cast played the game to bond better, work out properly, and get into the mindset of real pilots. Well, this seemed much like the volleyball scene in Tom Cruise’s Top Gun. Even Cruise’s movie featured that scene which brought the cast together.
Austin Butler and Barry Keoghan’s Preparation for Masters of the Air
Delving into the World War 2 drama Masters of the Air, a companion piece to Band of Brothers and The Pacific, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg handpicked a stellar cast for their Apple TV miniseries. Featuring Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Barry Keoghan, and more, the show narrated the story about bomber pilots.
Well, when making a World War drama it’s considered important to stick to the historical aspects. And certainly, Masters of the Air followed it sincerely. From mini-boot camps, history classes, and pilot sessions to prepare for their roles, Callum Turner mentioned another thing they implement for preparation.
During his interview with EW, the actor noted how the cast did something similar to what real pilots do. It was none other than the cockpit contest, where Austin Butler, Barry Keoghan, and others played a game like real pilots. Although the cockpit contest wasn’t officially sanctioned by production, the actors did it anyway which even helped them bond.
“It was a game that we played and that the real guys played too. No one wanted to take the stairs to get up into the plane. You basically had to do a reverse pull up and swing your body up into the hatch, which isn’t an easy thing to do when you’ve got all the flight equipment on.”
After learning about this particular contest the actors did in preparation for their roles, it seems quite similar to the scene in Tom Cruise’s Top Gun.
Masters of the Air Almost Replicates One Thing from Tom Cruise’s Top Gun
While Austin Butler and Barry Keoghan’s cockpit contest alongside other actors didn’t appear onscreen as it wasn’t sanctioned by production, Tom Cruise’s Top Gun scene made it to the big screen. The iconic sequence from Cruise’s movie in conversation is the beach volleyball scene which was actually performed to create a bond between the actors.
According to reports, such moments in movies are often created to build camaraderie and sportsmanship among the team. Apart from that, such scenes also help the creators showcase their entire cast to the audience. Therefore, Top Gun featured scenes of shirtless beach sport which eventually became the iconic element of the film. So much so, that the very scene further appeared in the recent sequel Top Gun: Maverick, just with football instead of volleyball.
Similarly, even Austin Butler and Barry Keoghan‘s Masters of the Air had one such behind-the-scenes sequence that created a great bond between the actors. Although Callum Turner noted that the game became competitive between his co-stars, it was eventually a fun bonding experience. Well we believe, apart from the bonding experience, if they released the behind-the-scene video of the contest in the show, it would have served the same purpose as Cruise’s Top Gun.
Releasing the playful contest video as a part of the show would have not only helped Masters of the Air feature their whole stellar cast in one scene, but would have also turned into an iconic sequence like that of Top Gun.
