David Shields – Flying High
Charismatic British actor David Shields’ profile has steadily been on the rise over the last few years. Following turns in The Crown, Doctor Who and a truly scene-stealing appearance in Black Mirror, Shields is now rubbing shoulders with the hottest movie stars of the day in the new Spielberg-produced multi-million-dollar WWII epic Masters Of The Air on Apple TV+. We catch up with a star firmly in the ascendant.
Interview Adam Mattera Photography Christian Trippe
How was the experience of working on Masters Of The Air – it must be the biggest scale production you’ve been involved in to date?
Absolutely yes. It was a huge thrill. Band Of Brothers (the earlier companion show to the show) is probably the series that I've watched most on repeat. So I had a sense of the scale of the production and obviously, the team involved (Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks exec-produced the show). I was on holiday in Wales when I got the audition tape through. So I cut short my holiday and drove back to London and immediately got a military haircut and the costume so I could get this tape down.
I hear that’s how a lot of TV auditions happen now – as opposed to face-to-face. So when you’re taping your audition is there a tendency to just record it 5000 times and drive yourself nuts trying to get the perfect take?
There are pros and cons for sure. You can spend all afternoon on it trying to perfect it. But generally, it's those first few takes that capture it. It’s the same on the day of shooting as well – it’s the first takes that usually have that initial magic and inspiration and then the more you do it, you tend to kill it.
“It was amazing working with those guys… that's some of the most critically-acclaimed actors in the world at the moment, and rightfully so. It's exciting watching and learning from those guys.”
It’s quite a cast they’ve put together for this thing – it literally reads like a who’s-who of the hottest young actors of our time: Austin Butler (Elvis), Callum Turner (Fantastic Beasts), Barry Keoghan (Saltburn), Ncuti Gatwa (Doctor Who)…
Utter smokeshows, the lot of them. I tried my best to avoid getting in frame next to any of them, you know you’re gonna lose that battle. No really, it was amazing working with those guys. I mean, that's some of the most critically-acclaimed actors in the world at the moment, and rightfully so. It's exciting watching and learning from those guys. And I think they're very clever choices to play these roles – especially guys like Austin and Callum that look the way they do. At that time in the 40s being an airman was considered quite a glamorous thing to be. The advent of flight hadn't been that long ago – you had people like Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart in the airforce. So I think those casting choices fit really well. Those guys really have that old school movie star magic.
At the heart of the show are the relationships between this group of men who are going to battle and the bonds they form. That really comes across on screen. Did you have a lot of time together before you started filming to work on stuff like that?
Absolutely yes, we were put into this bootcamp together run by veteran Captain Dale Dye. He’s the real deal, he fought in Vietnam. He was the military advisor first on Platoon and then Saving Private Ryan, Band Of Brothers and all these other big productions. He impressed on us the duty we had to do justice to these historical figures, to honour them. That whole experience massively brought us closer together. Everyone just fell in as one of the guys and that enabled that kind of cohesiveness within the group which I think was essential. I’m glad that came across.
All the flight battle scenes in the show are utterly jaw-dropping. You have a lot of scenes in the air - I’m guessing you had specific training to make those cockpit scenes look as authentic as possible?
We sat for hours learning a lot of quite dense, almost academic material about flying these B-17 Flying Fortresses and sitting in simulators – you have to know where the altimeter is and where the flight speed dial is and how to move the…
You know all the words!
I know! (Laughs)
And did you also spend a lot of time growing a very dashing moustache or was that stuck on?
No, no – that was mine, that was homegrown. Yeah, that's a real talent of mine. I can grow one pretty quick.
It's quite a moustache-heavy show.
I know! You can't move for them (laughs)
So when you're doing all the flight scenes in the simulator, is that actually moving at all or are you having to pretend to hurl yourself around the cockpit?
Well they’re built on these pistons and would shake around, pretty violently… But I mean, you're not flying through the air like Peter Pan – you’re fixed – but you're up on a rig in the cockpit. What you're trying to represent is these airmen up at 25,000 feet in freezing cold conditions, but actually you’re like 20 feet in the air. It was actually incredibly hot, with these LED lights all around us, and you'd be up there for four or five hours at a time. So those were probably the most trying of all the scenes. You'd have fans to cool you down, but still. Obviously it’s nothing close to what the actual pilots went through – we’re just actors! (Puts on whining voice) ‘I was there for hours and it was so hot, and I had to have a fan!’ But yeah, you did get pretty kind of delirious up there.
“I’ve done a couple of shorts for Harry, and whatever they are, I always end up having sex in some grimy toilet cubicle somewhere! I don't know whether there's a running joke or what.”
You’ve played quite an impressively diverse range of roles in a short span of time. One minute you’re a posh aristocrat type in The Crown, then an android in Doctor Who. I’ve been looking back through your stuff and I really enjoyed that gay short you did a few years back (2019’s award-winning Pompeii – co-directed by Harry Lighton). I wouldn’t say I was shocked, but I was certainly surprised. Obviously you're not afraid to do whatever it takes to make the role work…
You’re talking about the shot in the toilet cubicle? I’ve done a couple of shorts for Harry, and whatever they are, I always end up having sex in some grimy toilet cubicle somewhere! I don't know whether there's a running joke or whether he thinks I’m good at it or what.
Or maybe you're the only one crazy enough, or brave enough, to do it?
I don't know (laughs). But I'm always happy to do to work with Harry. He makes really interesting films. Pompeii came off the back of a news story about a feminine-presenting gay guy who wasn't allowed to go into a masculine-presenting gay club and it was sort of playing with that issue in a really delicate and wonderful way. I’d like to work with him again but, yeah, I'll have to wait and see whether I get another cubicle scene or not!
“I’d quite happily play more bad guys… there's a lot to have fun with there. I like characters that are either offbeat or slightly weird, slightly unsettling.”
I particularly liked your Black Mirror episode – Devil ’79. You play this sleazy politician, quite a scary character – that feels like a road you could easily go down as an actor…
I’d quite happily play more bad guys, sure. There's a lot to have fun with there. I like characters that are either offbeat or slightly weird, slightly unsettling. Those are ones I'm often craving, as well as more comedic ones – I’d really like to do an out-and-out comedy as well.
What’s your dream role then, if you could play anything?
At the risk of sounding pretentious, I’d love to play Richard II, the Shakespearean role. He's a wonderful combination of someone who's very witty and very arrogant. He has this huge fall from King down to captive. And some amazing speeches, it's a great play. I don't know, what do you think I should do?
I feel there's something in the evil department for sure. I wouldn't say a Bond villain, though maybe that's later down the line, but definitely something dark – maybe a serial killer?
There’s a lot of serial killer productions going around at the moment. Maybe I should stick my hand up for one of those. (Laughs)
Why not? I rewatched Devil ’79 and there’s a very palpable sense of evilness that you channel that’s genuinely frightening.
Oh, that's good! Hey I'll take Bond villain if it’s going. But as you say, I think that’s probably done further down the line – if at all! (laughs) But something dark, sure – I’m up for it.
Masters Of The Air is streaming now on Apple TV+.
Team credits
Interview Adam Mattera
Photography Christian Trippe
Videographer Flint
Grooming Cathy Ennis
Photography Assistant Ezra Evans
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