Dee Rees Talks Directing Two Key Episodes Of Masters of the Air

In Masters of the Air, the soldiers of the 100th Bomb Group, nicknamed the Bloody Hundredth, embark on treacherous bombing raids over Nazi Germany during WWII. They battle lack of oxygen, frigid conditions, and the sheer terror of fighting thousands of feet in the air. Not shying away from the psychological effects of war, the series portrays the emotional price these men paid in order to destroy Hitler’s Third Reich. Their fates varied from being shot down and captured to being wounded or killed. Some men were lucky enough to make it home, but they still paid a toll we could never imagine. Pop Culture Planet’s Jordan Bohan spoke with director Dee Rees about her work on episodes seven and eight, utilizing the source material, and working with such a talented group of people.

Masters of the Air is an incredible feat of a series, and it clearly took a village to make. While Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Gary Goetzman collaborated on the series, the show features the work of six separate directors each adding their take on the story. Dee Rees added her own perspective while directing episodes seven and eight, but also staying true to the story. “The tone was very gritty and realistic. One of the things I was attracted to is that it wasn't romanticizing the war. It was moving at the speed of life and calculating the human toll of it and the lasting effects of it. I was interested in that, especially my episodes where there's so much loss, where there's not the triumphant returns, where there's more ‘we barely made it’ kind of home homecomings,” she told me. “I watched some of the early Band of Brothers stuff and I'd watch the documentary interviews with those men and from that got a sense of, oh wow, these are, like, teenagers. They were not feeling confident. Looking back in history, we see them as heroes, but in the moment they didn't feel like heroes. They felt uncertain, they felt afraid, they felt vulnerable. In the performances, I tried to let the actors stay keyed into that and not necessarily have the gaze that we have today. Just put themselves in this state of overwhelm, in the state of too muchness, in the state of uncertainty and not knowing how things are going to turn out.”

The series is based on Donald L. Miller’s book of the same name and recounts real men’s stories of their experiences during the war. All of the main characters are based on real people who fought for the United States and lived to tell the tale. As a director on the show, Dee Rees had access to all kinds of first hand account and source material to work from. “One of the things I wanted to go back to were the actual mission reports that they would file after missions to summarize what their hit rate was, what they missed, and what they thought they did. It speaks to the fact that they had the presence of mind to log that and have some kind of document or accounting of that. To me, it was mind-blowing that under those circumstances to be able to have the presence of mind to keep some kind of composure and give information that then shapes future missions. I found that really interesting,” Rees shared about the material that was most helpful when directing these episoddes. “We see that in Crosby's character as he's the one who's forced to sculpt and design these missions. We see that with the Tuskegee Airmen because for them they were the pilot, they were the bomber, they were the navigator, they were performing all the functions. Instead of having 12 guys on a plane, it was just the the one. Reading those reports was revealing to their mindset and to how, even though they were young guys, they were very mature and very focused in a way that you don't imagine military forces necessarily being.”

In episode eight, we are introduced to the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of Black fighter pilots who assist in turning the tide of the war. Commonly omitted from war reenactments and education curriculum, the 99th Fighter Squadron was heavily responsible for much of the success towards the end of the war. “The thing that was most important to tell about the 99th Fighter Squadron specifically was the fact that even though they weren't necessarily given the ranks they deserved, the access they deserved, and they had experiences of discrimination within the military, they were still going above and beyond and proving, not just to themselves, but proving to the world that they were worthy and that they were fighters,” she said. “I wanted to understand that the stakes are different for them. It's not just winning this war, it's about another war they're going to come back home to. That just gave more perspective to the problems that Crosby, Rosenthal, Cleven, and Egan were having. When you see Jefferson come in, you realize they have completely different stakes and a different set of problems that they're going to contend with and still they throw themselves into this bodily, spiritually, and mentally.”

Dee Rees had an interesting set of episodes to direct as she must set up for the final episode while also introducing some new characters. Episode seven is the first time where there really seems to be a shift in the war efforts, but the soldiers are suffering from war fatigue and mental health and moral on base was suffering greatly. When asked about balancing these two opposing themes, Rees shared her perspective on allowing both stories to shine. “That was the exciting part about telling this part of the story in that these guys are separated from their planes, they're separated from their gear, they're literally grounded, and they're forced to deal with themselves and their own relationships. It seems like they're not going to win. It's almost this darkest hour kind of episode. In terms of turning the tide of the war, there's a lot of guilt in terms of the people who are still at the base, the people who are still try trying to run missions, so I just wanted to parallel those journeys. You have Rosie and Crosby on one end who are still trying to be the men they they envision themselves to be and stepping up. You have Cleven and Egan on the other hand who are exactly not who they envision themselves being in the war. They didn't see themselves being captured, they didn't see themselves as being helpless. In the midst of all that the Tuskegee Airmen are coming in and being part of what turns the tide. I just tried to just keep it realistic and try to force them to deal with their new surroundings and figure out what they're going to do within that.”

Masters of the Air is streaming on Apple TV+.

Jordan Bohan

Pop Culture Planet contributor Jordan Bohan is a content creator, writer, producer, and social media strategist. You can find her reading an upcoming book to screen adaptation, binge-watching your next favorite TV show, and dissecting the cast of the newest feature film. Jordan is also a full time social media coordinator for Nickelodeon, bringing your slime filled childhood to your social feeds.

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