Lovecraft Country and Loki star Jonathan Majors will be taking his talents to the friendly skies in a new film coming to a big screen near us soon.
Per a press release sent to The Root, Majors will help tell the true story of Navy pilot Jesse Brown in Devotion: an aerial war epic based on the bestselling book of the same name that tells the harrowing story of two elite US Navy fighter pilots during the Korean War. Their heroic sacrifices would ultimately make them the Navy’s most celebrated wingmen. The action drama is directed and executive produced by Brown’s son, J.D. Dillard, and will explore the determination and partnership forged throughout his journey with a fellow Navy pilot during the Korean War.
Majors’ portrayal was one full of range and vulnerability, two things Dillard said he particularly loved about his interpretation.
“The role of Jesse is so difficult because there’s a power, there’s a restraint, there’s a vulnerability,” Dillard explained to Vanity Fair. “What I love about him is that he’s kind of like a canary in the mines of honesty. What he looks to bring to his scene is so based in emotional reality that it breathes a different kind of life into the scenes that he participates in.”
For his role, Majors also detailed how he took pilot lessons, stopping just shy of the 10 hours necessary to get his pilot’s license, though he’s still adamant about finishing despite the mental and physical ups and downs that it caused.
“Everybody does throw up,” he explained to Vanity Fair. “When you pull Gs, you pull Gs…. And I wanted to feel that. I wanted to push it, because you’re playing Jesse Brown, and Jesse Brown’s a bad motherfucker. He’s a maverick. He’s a trailblazer. That’s who he is and we have to take it there.”
The film also stars Glen Powell, Joe Jonas, Christina Jackson and Thomas Sadoski. Devotion hits theaters in limited release on Oct. 14 and wide release on Oct. 28, 2022.