Each actor has their mild bulb second, an inflection level by which their ardour for a profession within the performing arts is solidified. For Kai Alexander, it got here on the age of 13 when he did a TV business for the cereal Honey Waffles. He had achieved a number of college performs up so far—bodyguard two was considered one of his greatest roles—however he hadn’t achieved something fairly on this scale or that actually allowed him to experiment. A five- to 10-minute improv session with the business’s director Garth Jennings, by which he was instructed to cover an enormous bear, was all it took. Alexander was hooked then and there. He enrolled in drama college shortly thereafter and began auditioning and reserving regular work, and now, he is part of one of the anticipated TV sequence of the 12 months—Masters of the Air. His 13-year-old self can be ecstatic.
One thing to learn about Alexander is that the UK native likes to enter uncharted territory. The extra unknown an issue or character is to him, the higher. When the audition for Masters of the Air got here in and was totally totally different from any of his earlier work (he had recurring roles in Amazon’s Disaster and Netflix’s The Stranger and performed a younger Richard Branson in Danny Boyle’s 2022 FX restricted sequence Pistol), he was completely recreation. It additionally did not damage that trade legends Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg had been hooked up as govt producers.
Based mostly on the 2007 nonfiction ebook by Donald L. Miller, Masters of the Air serves as a successor to the miniseries Band of Brothers and The Pacific and tells the story of the a hundredth Bomb Group of the USA Military Air Forces throughout World Warfare II that glided by the grim nickname the Bloody Hundredth. It’s an exhilarating battle epic with a heart-wrenching narrative of perilous high-flying missions and brotherhood accompanied by beautiful cinematography. The Apple TV+ sequence, which premiered its first two episodes on January 26, additionally incorporates a noteworthy solid of Hollywood’s most promising male expertise. Alexander is starring alongside Austin Butler, Callum Turner, and Barry Keoghan, to call a number of.
Whereas Alexander was excited in regards to the alternative to be part of such a giant venture, he did not initially think about himself a shoo-in for the function of Sgt. William Quinn. Along with his slender body and lengthy hair on the time. he did not fairly look the a part of a navy soldier. “I feel you all the time have this stereotype in your thoughts of what a military man would possibly appear to be, and once I checked out myself within the mirror, I did not see that,” Alexander tells us over Zoom. Regardless, Alexander was up for the problem, so he slicked again his hair and channeled a more durable vibe for his self-tape.
In the long run, it would not matter. “I did not notice, however you be taught afterward that these guys are literally skinny and are fairly mild as a result of they had been simply thrown in. They did not have time to coach and get muscular and constructed up,” Alexander says.
Nonetheless, the solid participated in a mock boot camp in preparation for filming. The intensive coaching program was led by Captain Dale Dye, a embellished Marine veteran turned technical advisor for movie and tv who additionally led the boot camps for Band of Brothers and The Pacific. “I simply bear in mind pondering, ‘Oh my god, what are we in for?'” Alexander recollects. He was rightfully nervous after watching movies of Dye at work on different initiatives, however the expertise would find yourself being an extremely constructive and useful one within the data and camaraderie it offered. Along with communal train, which Alexander admits was much less bodily demanding than he initially anticipated, they partook in lectures in regards to the mechanics of the planes, realized about flight logs and real-life missions, and took part in parachute-jump coaching and tutorials about the right way to deal with bombs. “All of us felt the duty of why we had been there, and we had been all very eager to do our most correct portrayal of those guys,” Alexander says.
Moving into the metaphorical sneakers of Sgt. Quinn meant Alexander received to make clear a really exceptional, little-known piece of historical past. Quinn’s story, which might be its personal sequence, facilities on the resistance group often known as the Comet Line. When his aircraft is shot down throughout a mission, Quinn is pressured to make an emergency parachute touchdown in occupied Belgium and runs into members of the group. Made up of the most important community of volunteers, most of whom had been younger girls, the Comet Line was liable for escorting allied troopers and downed airmen south by means of occupied France and into impartial Spain earlier than arriving safely residence through British-controlled Gibraltar.
“I knew nothing about it,” Alexander tells us of his data of the resistance group going into the venture. “I instantly went into analysis mode to know what it was. … It was simply fascinating to me that, whenever you did land, your guides had been 70% girls, and so they had been staring demise within the face nearer than we had been at that time. Over the course of it, they arrested, I feel, 700 girls [working with the Comet Line], and I feel 300 or 350 had been executed. For them to be placing themselves behind enemy traces and main these downed Individuals and downed British airmen again to security, again to the UK, is an extremely noble factor to do. We regularly affiliate WWII, all wars, as a really male-centric factor. … I feel most individuals who I spoke to do not actually know an enormous quantity about [this piece of history]. Swiftly, you land, and the fellows who’re going to avoid wasting you might be girls. It was an unbelievable piece of historical past to examine, and I really feel very honored to convey just a little extra mild to that side of WWII.”
One other a part of Alexander’s prep for the function included adopting Quinn’s Spokane, Washington accent. The solid labored with varied dialect coaches and had been inspired to make use of their American accents as a lot as potential through the second week of boot camp. Understanding the burden of the function and the chance in entrance of him, Alexander determined to maintain together with his American accent all through the rest of boot camp. On the primary day of filming, he seen an impression. When the present’s creator John Orloff mistook him for an precise American, it proved to Alexander that it was working. He determined to maintain with the American accent by means of the whole thing of filming, however when 4 months of taking pictures become a 12 months, it nearly labored too effectively.
After he wrapped his closing day on set, the crew inspired him to return to his British accent, however he could not discover it. “It was actually bizarre as a result of I used to be making an attempt to do it, and I feel I referred to Dick Van Dyke, who’s unbelievable. Everybody loves him in Mary Poppins. That was what I used to be channeling. That was the British I used to be channeling at that time,” he chuckles. Fortunately, spending some high quality time together with his household shortly after he wrapped helped him relearn his unique accent. “It was the toughest factor to get into and the toughest factor to get out of,” he says.
Up subsequent, Alexander will lend his voice to the Disney animated musical sequence Rhona Who Lives by the River. For now, he is simply excited for what the 12 months forward will convey, and hopefully, it would contain extra uncharted territory: “The joy of getting one thing for the primary time that you have not actually seen earlier than and creating one thing new, that is in the end what I like doing.”
New episodes of Masters of the Air at the moment are streaming on Apple TV+.
Photographer: Nick Thompson
Stylist: Clare Richardson
Groomer: Charley McEwen
