Masters of the Air, executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, is based on Donald L. Miller’s nonfiction book about the 100th Bomb Group, a W.W. II air-force unit. Kai Alexander, a 26-year-old English actor who stars in the show, prepared for filming at a boot camp, where he practiced marching, disarming and arming bombs, shooting and reloading .50-caliber machine guns, and also did sit-ups and push-ups alongside Hollywood heavyweights. The actors had to wear gloves while holding guns because their hands could stick to the weapon in the freezing London weather. They were taught how to board a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, a bomber aircraft used in W.W. II. After drills, the 40 other cast members of Masters of the Air—among them, Austin Butler, Barry Keoghan, and Callum Turner—ate together and watched movies from the 1930s and 1940s. “The cast is stacked,” Alexander tells us. “Nothing quite prepares you for [working with] Steve and Tom … these Hollywood titans who set the bar at the highest level. As a new guy coming in, it’s such an amazing opportunity.” —Carolina de Armas