Last night was the premiere of Apple TV’s Masters of the Air produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg about the 100th Bombardment Group of the American Eighth Air Force during WWII.
It’s the latest war story project from Tom and Steven after Band of Brothers and The Pacific and while, of course, I understand the value of these historical pieces and why its so important to make sure every generation remembers and appreciates the contribution of these real life heroes, it’s not usually the kind of programming I personally gravitate towards. If you’re the studio and the producers, then, how do you make sure your series appeals to as wide of an audience as possible? Older viewers, like your dad, won’t need convincing to tune in. But what about people like me, and younger viewers – especially the younger viewers, since one of the goals here is to make sure that the lessons and the sacrifices of the past are carried forward.
Well, good casting definitely helps. And they’ve done a great job with that for Masters of the Air.
Austin Butler and Barry Keoghan are internet boyfriends. Callum Turner is about to become an internet boyfriend. We’ve been sleeping on Callum Turner, and frankly he doesn’t photograph well. But if you’ve seen him in Emma, or Fantastic Beasts, or the more recent The Boys in the Boat, you know what I’m talking about. Callum Turner is a smokeshow. This cast is super f-cking hot. Super talented too, obviously, but also super f-cking hot. So hot that I will be tuning into watch a limited series about war history – and that’s exactly what Tom Hanks and Apple TV want.
Here they are, all three of them, on the carpet last night. Let us give thanks to Barry, my beloved, for extended his crop streak. As noted yesterday Barry’s been leaning into the shorter jacket these days, and that applies to waistcoasts too. A short king who prefers short tops, what a blessing.
You know who’s missing though?
Cary Joji Fukunaga.
He directed several episodes of Masters of the Air and, ordinarily, he’d be part of the press tour. And yet back in October Rolling Stone pointed out that he was missing from promotional materials. Apple doesn’t want to talk about Cary and they don’t want anyone us to talk about Cary which is why Cary has been disappeared. Cary’s kept a super low profile for over a year now after multiple women came forward with allegations about abusive and predatory behaviour. A timeline of those allegations can be found here at Vulture.
I would seem then that Apple has cut him loose and is hoping to move ahead with the release of Masters of the Air without much mention of Cary’s involvement. And one way to do that is to keep the spotlight firmly on the cast – two very popular young actors who are cultural obsessions and a third who will soon join them in the space.
