Callum Turner’s first message to Austin Butler solidified their friendship before they even stepped onto the Masters of the Air set.
“It was like a voice note from Elvis, you know,” Turner, 34, told British GQ in an interview published on Tuesday, March 12. “And I just sent him a message: ‘Elvis has left the building.’”
Turner and Butler, 32, star as Major John “Bucky” Egan and Major Gale “Buck” Cleven, respectively, in Masters of the Air, which premiered via Apple TV+ in January and is gearing up to air its season finale on Friday, March 15.
On screen, Turner’s Egan and Butler’s Cleven are close friends bonded by the horrors of World War II. Off screen, the actors formed an immediate connection.
“Austin and I have a very special relationship,” Turner said. “It’s deep, and it’s profound. I’ve made friends through the years that I love. And there are people that you work with, and have a great time with, but they don’t necessarily become your friend. You still love ’em. But Austin’s my friend.”
In addition to their intense military boot camp, Turner said that he and Butler had to take dance classes together.
“F–kin’ obviously, Austin was amazing at it,” he recalled. “I’ve got two left feet.”
As the Masters of the Air protagonists — and with their characters as high-ranking officers — Turner and Butler also took on a leadership role among their other costars.
“If someone was out of line, we’d tell them, you know?” Turner said. “Of course [it happened]. There’s 100 young men on a film set. It’s gonna get f–kin’ rowdy. It’s not like it was anything extreme. But, you know – ‘Shut the f–k up!’”
The show’s fans have already clocked Turner and Butler’s close friendship, making fan edits of the duo from the Masters of the Air press tour and posting them via social media. “Husbands in another timeline,” reads the caption of one TikTok video.
The show also allowed Turner to flex his vocal muscles, as his character is American. The actor is, obviously, British, so there was a lot of accent work involved. Turner worked with a dialect coach for two hours every day “and then an hour a day outside of that,” he said. For the 10 months they filmed Masters of the Air, Turner spoke only in his American accent.
“I’d put my mouth in the position it needed to be in; my tongue in the position it needed to be in,” he said. “For 10 months, I spoke more as John Egan than me.”
