“Devotion” sees Jonathan Majors portraying Korean War hero Jesse Brown alongside Glen Powell (Tom Hudner), Joe Jonas (Marty Goode), Christina Jackson (Daisy Brown) and Thomas Sadoski (Dick Cevoli), directed by J.D. Dillard. Watch as they join CinemaBlend’s Sean O’Connell to discuss the real-life story behind the action/drama and all the behind-the-scenes details and secrets.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00 I'm glad the world is finding this love of aviation.
00:02 And if you love "Top Gun," I think you'll love "Devotion."
00:06 Finding the love of aviation through the wonderful
00:10 "Glenn Powell," ladies and gentlemen.
00:12 Ready, set, hit it!
00:14 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:18 Jonathan, I want to start with you.
00:24 What is the one aspect of this story
00:26 that you wish you could have turned to Jesse
00:28 and just asked him for more details
00:30 about his personal experience?
00:33 Wow, it's funny you say that, because that's actually
00:36 something that we did.
00:38 We would take time, sometimes between takes,
00:43 sometimes before a scene.
00:44 And JD would come up, our director,
00:47 and say, is there anything else Jesse wants to say?
00:49 And I would just get quiet and listen.
00:53 And sometimes a new feeling would arise,
00:54 or an image would arise.
00:57 And for instance, there's a moment
01:00 where I'm speaking to Tom Hudner, played by this man
01:04 here, and I'm telling him about the swim test.
01:08 And there's a line in the film that says,
01:12 but every time I made it out.
01:15 That wasn't in the original script.
01:17 That moment came from JD being, is there anything
01:22 else that needs to be said?
01:23 And I sat there, and we sat there and waited.
01:28 And then we took it again, and that line came out.
01:31 So I'm glad you asked that question,
01:33 because it's something we actually practiced.
01:36 So yeah, thank you.
01:38 It's also one thing I've learned from Jonathan,
01:40 is in the chaos of a film set, never to--
01:45 especially when you're playing a real life person who you really
01:49 care about, and you have one chance to tell the story.
01:52 He's a guy who can calm the chaos,
01:55 and really listen, and find those moments,
01:57 and find truth in what could be inauthentic
02:01 in any of the actor's hands.
02:04 It's a great question.
02:05 It is a great question.
02:06 I would like to know what his drink order was.
02:09 Oh, yeah.
02:10 I just feel like it was very Bond-esque when he would walk
02:14 up to a bar, and the shake and not stir thing would be--
02:18 and it wouldn't even be that impressive.
02:20 Or I don't know what it was, but--
02:23 It was cool.
02:24 I feel like I got a lot of information about Marty,
02:27 and I got to listen to audio of him
02:29 from a podcast he did right a year before he passed.
02:32 So I got a lot of detail.
02:34 But then it was like the small things,
02:36 not even for the role, just because.
02:38 You feel like you know the person at some point,
02:40 and you feel like you've become friendly with them.
02:43 And I think that would have been nice.
02:48 At the dinner table, when Jesse tells her that he has to leave,
02:55 JD having the experience of his father being an able aviator
02:58 and his mom being the wife of an able aviator,
03:01 when we had that conversation, it was definitely this--
03:06 me looking to JD as a, where do you want me to go?
03:10 It's the hardest scene for me in the film,
03:13 specifically because of some things
03:15 that Jesse says in the film to Daisy.
03:17 And so that would have been a perfect just cut and go over.
03:22 And what were you feeling?
03:24 What were you thinking?
03:26 Because I know you don't want him to go,
03:28 but this is what we've been working towards.
03:30 And so that's the one scene where
03:34 I would have used all the guidance that I could have had.
03:38 We knew this day might come.
03:39 Doesn't make it any easier.
03:41 Lieutenant Tom Huggner.
03:43 Jesse Brown.
03:44 It's good to meet you.
03:45 Jonathan, what is the motivation behind Jesse
03:47 hooking his thumbs into his flight suit the way that he does?
03:50 What are you talking about?
03:54 No, no, I just--
03:55 it's interesting when you play someone that actually existed
03:59 and made impact on people, you just study and study
04:03 and study and study.
04:05 And I saw an image.
04:07 I saw a picture of him with his hands in that way,
04:12 and it just stuck in my head.
04:15 And then, of course, the way my brain works,
04:19 I think I was driving in North Carolina to the airport
04:23 to get to Atlanta, and I saw a buzzard.
04:29 And I went, hmm, interesting.
04:32 And then I thought of Vulture's Row,
04:34 and I thought, hmm, interesting.
04:36 And I thought of looking and accessing.
04:39 I remember the picture, and I went, aha, there it is.
04:44 There it is.
04:45 So it was working backwards.
04:47 I saw an image of him standing there in his flight jacket
04:52 and went, OK, we're going to go with that.
04:57 And it just stuck.
04:58 There's something very peculiar about Jesse
05:01 from the physical articulation of that
05:04 to the hat, which he actually wore,
05:06 to the fact that his flight suit was a different color
05:12 in the latter part of the story, and the book,
05:15 and the mission, et cetera.
05:17 So I saw that and just honed in on that specificity.
05:20 And it really stuck, and that's what we see in the film.
05:24 It's wonderful to watch Jonathan's brainwork in terms
05:29 of creating this character, because I had the ability
05:34 to meet Tom Hudner and really understand,
05:37 talk to a lot of his relatives, and really understand
05:40 a more three-dimensional person, where Jonathan, the research
05:44 that he had to do was much more excavation.
05:49 You really, really had to dig to find those things
05:51 and build that character.
05:53 And there is nothing out of place with that character.
05:58 Everything is done with intent.
06:00 And that's the one thing that Jonathan does,
06:03 is nothing is left untouched in terms of performance.
06:09 Little things like just body language and things like that,
06:11 there's intent to everything.
06:13 And it's really cool.
06:14 As a fellow actor and his co-star of this movie,
06:17 to watch someone with that level of thoroughness and intent,
06:20 it's a wonderful thing to watch.
06:21 It gives you a lot of confidence that you're
06:23 going to make a great movie.
06:25 What are you going to find out about your wingman cruising
06:27 at 10,000 feet, Lieutenant?
06:30 I think audiences are going to watch this film
06:32 and your aerial photography specifically,
06:35 and just in a jaded sense, assume
06:37 that it's green screen and CGI.
06:39 So I would love to know to what percentage, if any,
06:44 are visual effects that you use and how much of it is practical?
06:47 So the goal from the beginning was
06:49 we need to put as much of this in camera as possible.
06:52 And that's only because I feel like audiences
06:55 are getting savvier.
06:56 They're getting smarter.
06:57 Even if you don't know exactly the terminology,
07:00 you know when something's off.
07:02 So what we wanted to do was--
07:05 step one was we had to find as many of these planes
07:08 as possible, which is a difficult task in and of itself
07:12 because they are World War II, inter-Korean war era aircraft.
07:16 I think there are only 12 flying Corsairs in the world left,
07:20 and we had six of them.
07:22 So that was just step one.
07:25 And it was the first thing I said when I met to even get
07:28 to be a part of the film.
07:30 But given that we have scenes where you need 25 Corsairs,
07:34 when you start to sort of prioritize
07:37 what the process is going to be, it was really like, OK,
07:40 the action closest to camera, let's have that be practical.
07:44 And then we'll fill it out when we
07:46 need to fill the sky with all these other aircraft.
07:49 Copy, paste, and I know it's not that easy,
07:51 but copy, paste, set more planes in the background.
07:54 But it's all motivated by the fact
07:56 that this is a character story.
07:59 It's a relationship story.
08:01 The tactile nature of the drama has
08:04 to be sold both at a dinner table
08:06 as much as it does in the cockpit.
08:08 And if the drama is good, it's scarier in the air.
08:12 And if it's scary in the air, the drama is better.
08:14 I mean, it creates this kind of feedback loop.
08:16 So look, there are plenty of visual effects in the movie.
08:20 But my sort of feeling coming into the film
08:24 is that in-camera is actually not just an approach.
08:28 It's also an aesthetic.
08:30 And that's where we really wanted to sort of push
08:33 things if we could.
08:35 You belong in the sky, Jesse.
08:38 It's a man!
08:40 Just remember you belong down here with us too, OK?
08:42 Glenn, there's going to be comparisons to "Top Gun
08:45 Maverick."
08:45 It's just unusual that they come out the same year.
08:47 But in what way were the experiences different for you?
08:53 Well, it's wild because I've been developing
08:55 this story for probably four or five years,
09:00 read the book even longer than that.
09:03 And then-- so it's interesting.
09:05 This journey actually predated "Top Gun."
09:09 But what was wonderful about the experience
09:11 is a lot of the lessons that I learned on "Top Gun"
09:13 from Tom and Chris McCrory, Joe Kaczynski, Jerry Bruckheimer,
09:19 really informed some of the things
09:21 that we got to do in this movie, mostly
09:23 in terms of practical flying and technology.
09:27 But in terms of these movies, I would say they
09:31 complement each other in really wonderful ways.
09:33 But they could not be two more distant brothers in terms
09:39 of what they are and what they say.
09:42 But again, I have a beautiful love of aviation.
09:46 And I'm glad the world is finding this love of aviation.
09:49 And if you love "Top Gun," I think you'll love "Devotion."
09:52 Finding the love of aviation through the wonderful
09:56 flame of power.
09:57 Ladies and gentlemen, show off.
09:59 That was pretty good.
10:00 It's good.
10:01 You know, Joe, to that extent, actually,
10:03 there's this cliche that actors on military pictures
10:06 of projects form deeper bonds.
10:08 And I'm just curious if the phrase "band of brothers"
10:11 sort of comes to mind.
10:12 Is that an actual cliche?
10:14 Or is there truth to it?
10:16 I think there's definitely truth to it.
10:19 I think we were very also lucky that everyone, I guess,
10:29 gave a damn and also cared about this project.
10:33 We were in--
10:34 I don't even remember which wave of COVID.
10:37 And so it's forced us to have that camaraderie.
10:40 Just being able to do what we love and show up to work
10:44 and look at everyone from catering to DPs to the top,
10:49 saying everyone's here for a reason
10:51 and they're dedicating their time.
10:53 And knowing that very well, we're risking things,
10:57 being around in close proximities.
10:58 But I think to be able to look at each other
11:04 and work really hard and put the pen to paper,
11:10 I think that was really essential for us.
11:12 It's good to know the men you're flying with.
11:15 See what they're fighting for.
11:18 And what are you fighting for?
11:20 Hoping to find that out.
11:22 JD, the movie has been making the rounds
11:23 at multiple film festivals.
11:25 And I'm curious, what does exposure
11:26 in places like something as big as Toronto or even something
11:31 like Savannah or Middleburg do for a movie like this?
11:35 You know, it's one of my favorite parts of the process
11:40 because as digital as everything is,
11:44 there still is this weird thing where sometimes you just
11:47 feel disconnected from the audience.
11:49 And to get to tour with the film is so empowering and exciting.
11:55 And it kind of feeds the, like, oh my god,
11:57 this is why we do this.
12:01 You know, to stand outside of the theater
12:05 and talk to people, talk to people who are like,
12:07 you know, my dad fought in Korea and he never talked about it.
12:11 Or, you know, like my son has a dream
12:15 and is thinking about giving.
12:17 And you just, you see the power of movies.
12:19 And it transcends our film.
12:21 It's just, you just see the power of, you know,
12:24 what it is to have a shared experience in,
12:26 whether it's on your sofa or in a, you know, a dark room
12:29 with a couple hundred people.
12:31 But I'm really, I'm really grateful to be able to take
12:34 the film on the road because you get to talk about it.
12:37 You get to talk about it with people
12:38 who have freshly just seen it.
12:40 And to see all the points of entry
12:43 that folks have to a film is just, I mean, I'll say this.
12:47 On my monitors, when we shoot,
12:49 I keep a little piece of gaff tape that says,
12:51 what do you want them to feel?
12:53 You know, because I think my job at the end of the day
12:56 is really about answering that question
12:58 in every frame that rolls through the camera.
13:01 And when you go to a festival, you actually meet them.
13:05 You meet the people that you spent years
13:08 asking the question, what will they feel?
13:10 And now they're here, you know,
13:11 and you get to shake their hand and hear what they felt.
13:14 And that I've only really started to understand
13:17 through the process of sharing this film.
13:19 - And even if they don't have a direct connection
13:21 to the film, just them being introduced to this story
13:25 is also something that I'm hearing a lot of,
13:27 just like the fact that we did not know that this happened,
13:30 we didn't know their names.
13:31 You know, they're astounded,
13:33 and it's still something that they carry with them.
13:35 (dramatic music)
13:36 - And then what you fight for?
13:37 (dramatic music)
13:40 (dramatic music)
13:43 [BLANK_AUDIO]