Yeah
my earliest memories are all
surrounding aviation quite literally .
My first memory is burning my hand on
the nose of an F . 18 hornet after an
air show show that my dad had just been
a part of , he was a blue angel for two
years and I was super super young so
just like navy bases the smell of jet
fuel like that whole world are like all
tied to my earliest memories . So
stepping into devotion has been kind of
funny because it's kind of taking me
back to those places all over again .
And when I heard about J .
D . I got a call and they said we found
our director and so you're kind of on
pins and needles who is it ? Who is it ?
Who is it ? They told me about who J .
D . Is he's this young man , he's got
great vision and then they said his
father was a blue angels angels pilot .
I felt like I don't know there's just
this weight lifted because to do this
movie you have to have lived this story .
You can't take a crash course in naval
aviation in six months or even by
reading my book and know how to make a
movie . This big J . D . Grew up on
these bases with his father he grew up
talking to his dad late nights at the
kitchen table he knows the lingo , he
knows the world , he knows the culture ,
he knows the ethos and so there's no
better director on the planet than that
young man when I first read the
script um I kind of cried my way
through reading it , which is um I have
to say , incredibly rare . So it wasn't
just because Jessie and Tom's story was
so remarkable , which it is on its own .
Um but then also I saw so much
commonality between jesse and my dad ,
who himself was unable 30 years after
jesse , so sort of at the heart of
making this movie , you know , it's
been not just an opportunity to sort of
celebrate who jesse and Tom were , but
also kind of get to tell my dad's story
and , you know , look as a as a
filmmaker , you always look for that
personal connection . Um and I'm just
really lucky that the one on devotion
is just so intense .