Barry Keoghan and Austin Butler are ‘two of the most exciting actors’

Anthony Boyle has said fellow Irish actor Barry Keoghan and Elvis star Austin Butler are some of the “most exciting actors working right now”.

The Belfast-born actor stars alongside Keoghan and Butler in the upcoming US war drama series Masters Of The Air.

The Apple TV+ series, which is based Donald L Miller’s book of the same name, follows the true story of men from the 100th Bomb Group during the Second World War.

Speaking to the PA news agency at the series’ UK premiere on Monday, Boyle said: “Austin and Barry, they’re two of the best, I think, most exciting actors working right now including Callum, Raff, Nate.

“Each day you come to work and all those boys have such different approaches with the work and they were all fantastic.”

The series also features Fantastic Beasts’ actor Callum Turner, Rafferty Law and Nate Mann as well as Josiah Cross and Branden Cook.

Last year, Keoghan was nominated for an Oscar for his role as Dominic in Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees Of Inisherin – and won a Bafta award for best supporting actor in the role.

He has also received praised for his portrayal of protagonist Oliver Quick in Emerald Fennell’s thriller Saltburn, starring opposite Australian actor Jacob Elordi, and has been nominated for a Bafta for the role.

Butler’s turn as the King of Rock and Roll in the 2022 musical biopic Elvis garnered him a Golden Globe and Bafta award as well as an Oscar nod.

Boyle, who rose to prominence for his role in the West End show Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, plays Major Harry Crosby in the series.

He said preparing for the role required “a lot” of research including re-reading Major Crosby book numerous times and listening to a clip of him speaking everyday before he went to work.

He added: “I would have it in my head and I would get the mannerisms down, get the accent down and just really try and play into that.”

The actors also all attended a bootcamp together where they marched and took part in exercises together to get them into the army mentality.

Butler said: “The bootcamp was incredibly beneficial for us. It was our time that we got to bond and we got to learn and there was time in a flight simulator – it was an incredible time.”

He added: “That was the time that we were, in a way, surrendering our individuality…

“So that was our time that unified us and really set the foundation for the rest of it.”

The series follow the lives of the US bombers as they conduct bombing raids over Nazi Germany and grapple with the dire weather conditions, lack of oxygen, and terror of air combat.

Saving Private Ryan director Steven Spielberg, Hollywood actor Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman also act as executive producers on the TV series.

Master Of The Air will debut on Apple TV+ with two episodes on January 26, followed by a new episode weekly every Friday through to March 15.