The all-star cast for Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg’s war drama sequel were encouraged to follow a simple yet bizarre rule while filming.
It must be said, what executive producers Hanks, Spielberg and all those involved did for 2001’s Band of Brothers was magical.
A gritty, brutal, and harrowing view of what US Army soldiers went through during World War 2, it's a tough but worthwhile watch to say the least.
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It’s 2010 follow up, The Pacific, equally delivers on showcasing the horrors of war this time following a group of Marines fighting imperial Japan island to island.
Now Hanks, and Spielberg have sought to capture lightning in a bottle for a third time with their latest WW2 TV miniseries, Masters of the Air.
I think it's fair to say, they did a pretty damn good job shedding light on the real lives of those who served in the Airforce and more specifically the ‘Bloody Hundredth’ - a name they received for the high casualty rate suffered.
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With a cast full of upcoming stars and actors who have already had their rise, viewers are in for a thrilling, heart-wrenching and action-packed story about the horrors of air combat against Germany’s Nazis.
But despite the cast's growing reputation as acting stars, it seemed it was in their favor to follow one rule to keep things on track throughout filming.
UNILAD spoke to Nate Mann who plays Major Robert 'Rosie' Rosenthal and Anthony Boyle who plays Lieutenant Harry Crosby about their experience filming the show.
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When asking if the pair were surprised by anything during filming you would expect answers about the emotional difficulties of bringing the real characters to life.
Or maybe even the struggle of bringing your best performance out when sharing the screen with leads like Austin Butler, Callum Turner and Barry Keoghan.
Nope, we discovered there were a host of problems surrounding bathroom breaks.
“Trying not to pee was quite difficult,” Boyle said regarding one of the advisable rules for the cast.
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Not that there was a belief that holding your bladder made you give a better performance, but rather practically it just wasn’t feasible to let the star-studded cast go for a quick wizzle.
“We were up in those planes for like nine hours at a time. So, we would get put in these replica planes and then sent up 50 feet in the air in these gimbles,” Boyle continued.
“The set up to get up and down was about 40 minutes so you had to train yourself to empty your tanks beforehand. Then sort of hold on to that while you were filming."
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The pair laughed as Mann reminisced about their cast mates having to ask how long of filming was left only to be told the frustrating news they would have to hold it for another two hours.
In all honesty, we suppose adds to the realism, as the real-life soldiers probably couldn’t just open a window or door and relieve themselves while going up 10,000 feet and travelling 200mph.
Having to hold your bladder, or worse... for a good few hours also likely helped filming for the tense and terror-filled scenes. That's one way to bring out the best in your actors.
Beyond this however, each cast member delivers a stunning performance and allows for a glimpse at the lives of ordinary men during extraordinary times in a story that should never be forgotten.
The first two episodes of Masters of the Air are available to stream on Apple TV+ from today (January 26).
Topics: Apple, Film and TV, World War 2, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg