Barry Keoghan Modeled Masters of the Air Character After Tom Hardy in Dunkirk

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Barry Keoghan Modeled Masters of the Air Character After Tom Hardy in Dunkirk

Barry Keoghan is set to star as Lt. Curtis R. Biddick in Masters of the Air, Apple TV+’s series about the 100th Bomb Group of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. To play his character, Keoghan drew inspiration from his Dunkirk costar, Tom Hardy, who played a British pilot named Farrier.

In Dunkirk, Keoghan starred as George Mills, a teenage hand for a civilian sailor. However, Keoghan loved Hardy’s role because it required the use of his eyes to project emotions.

“I always wanted to be a pilot,” Keoghan told GQ about what attracted him to Masters of the Air. “If you can convey your emotions, what you’re feeling, with just your eyes, it’s powerful. I’d constantly say to Austin [Butler], ‘I’m Tom Hardy today, right? You think it?’ He’d be like, ‘Yeah, you’re definitely Tom Hardy today.’”

What to Expect in Masters of the Air?

“Masters of the Air follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group (the Bloody Hundredth) as they conduct perilous bombing raids over Nazi Germany and grapple with the frigid conditions, lack of oxygen, and sheer terror of combat conducted at 25,000 feet in the air,” the official synopsis reads. “Portraying the psychological and emotional price paid by these young men as they helped destroy the horror of Hitler’s Third Reich, is at the heart of Masters of the Air. Some were shot down and captured; some were wounded or killed. And some were lucky enough to make it home. Regardless of individual fate, a toll was exacted on them all.”

Besides Keoghan, Masters of the Air stars Austin Butler as Major Gale Cleven, Callum Turner as Major John Egan, Anthony Boyle as Major Harry Crosby, Nate Mann as Major Robert Rosenthal, Raff Law as Sgt. Ken Lemmons, and Ncuti Gatwa as 2nd Lt. Robert Daniels.

Masters of the Air stems from executive producers Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Gary Goetzman, the trio behind Band of Brothers and The Pacific. Based on Donald L. Miller’s 2007 book, Masters of the Air was created by John Shiban and John Orloff. Directors include Cary Joji Fukunaga, Dee Rees, Tim Van Patten, and the duo of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.

The first two episodes of Masters of the Air will stream to Apple TV+ on Friday, January 26. One new episode will be released every Friday through March 15.