Interview: Nate Mann Discusses Becoming Major Rosenthal in ‘Masters of the Air’

In stepping into Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air, actor Nate Mann explains to Awards Radar on Zoom that he did not know who Major Robert ‘Rosie’ Rosenthal was and only had limited knowledge of the Mighty Eighth and the 100th Bomber Group. But after landing the role of Rosie, looking at archival interviews, and speaking to his son, he had a better idea of who he was, not only as a highly decorated B-17 pilot who flew an unprecedented 52 missions during World War II but also as a human being: 

“I felt like I could sink my teeth into it a little bit deeper than if [I hadn’t had that material]. The show itself was so detailed as a project. I remember showing up on one of the first days at one of the studios. An entire wing of this warehouse features antiques, like paraphernalia from the war, that you could walk through and soak up. There was so much research, and because it’s relatively recent history, there’s just so much to read, watch, listen, and put your hands on.”

While Mann didn’t get the opportunity to visit an actual B-17, since only a limited amount were left, the actors went through a boot camp process with military advisor Dale Dye in preparing for how these characters lived through during the War: 

“We learned the rank and file and the order of being on the base: how to treat your officers, how you show up every day, and what tempo and rhythm these guys had. Because so much of the show takes place in the air, we knew it’d be really important to spend some time in these cockpits and learn how everything operated, and everyone’s position. There are ten guys per plane. So what are they doing? Who does what? How do they communicate? For the guys playing pilots with the gauges, switches, and all this stuff, we know that we’re reaching the right places when it shows up and making it feel all connected.”

Rosie first appears during the fourth episode, where the bulk of the main story has been introduced. In shooting his introduction scene, the actor had to perform a dance and described this moment as follows:

“When we first see someone, what they say and do is really important because it communicates to us as viewers who they are and where we place them. [Reading the script,] I was like, “Oh, man, this guy’s dancing on his way in.”

That tells you a couple of things about him: He loves music, he likes to eat, likes to go up to his boys, with this kind of vibrancy to him. At the same time, it’s his first day, right? He doesn’t know what he’s in for.

Slowly, throughout that episode, some of his first missions were the most intense of the whole experience. That told me so much about where I wanted to start off. That way, as he spends more time on the base, goes through these missions, and sees what happens to the other men who are flying, it will hopefully create the sense that no one can truly prepare for what’s to come and for the audience to have a sense of what it would have been like.”

One of Rosie’s most pivotal points in his arc occurs during its sixth episode, where he and his crew are sent to a flack house after 120 men die in three missions. While he says it doesn’t psychologically affect him and wants to be sent back to base immediately, the pilot shares a vulnerable conversation with the house’s doctor after not being able to sleep. 

In shooting that particular sequence, Nate Mann admitted that he was anxious on set because “that scene is about his inner discomfort of being in this place where it feels like you don’t want to be told to step out of what you’re focused on because there’s fear that it would never come back, and you wouldn’t be able to find that courage again, the fire or rhythm that gets you back in the air. And I remember asking myself what it would be like to be asked to go back to the base and not really know where he was. Of course, the doctor says, “You should stay for a couple of days,” and he’s wondering, “Okay, what am I gonna do here?” Of course, it leads to him ultimately finding why he’s there, but that was an interesting scene to take a step away from the war and the planes and sit with the character in the English countryside. 

Balancing out Rosie’s most heroic feats in the war between his intimate moments wasn’t a challenge for Mann, as he believes they are inherently connected to one another:

“These guys, in their greatest moments of courage, were just doing their job and couldn’t fathom not being able to do their part. They’re not just fighting the Nazis. They are also protecting their idea of American freedom. But when you’re fighting with these guys every day, and they’re the only people you have in your life right now, there’s a kind of inherent intimacy there because you’re getting so close to the people who are the ones who are going to get you back.”

After completing the mandatory minimum requirement of 25 missions, which was nearly impossible to complete during World War II, Rosie is allowed to return home. However, upon learning that the minimum requirement has switched from 25 to 30, Rosie decides to re-enlist and help his team win the war. For Nate Mann, finding out about this moment and shooting the scene where Rosie realizes what he must do for his team made him find out about the character’s “existential consternation”: 

“I was really happy that scene where we all learn about the minimum requirements going up was there because it allowed me to see it land on all these other characters. Without that moment of saying, “Oh, well, I could get off scot-free if I wanted to, but how am I supposed to deal with that?” with the knowledge of these guys having to serve more missions, it was a really important scene to kind of carry Rosie’s journey into the latter half of the series.”

The show’s final episode shows Rosie rescued by the Red Army after he lands in No Man’s Land. While in Poland, he encounters a concentration camp in which he sees the bodies of Jewish prisoners who were held there. In shooting this harrowing moment in the series, Mann knew how intense it was going to be and had prepared for the scene for a long time, understanding how Rosie’s Jewish identity was such an important aspect of his relationship with the war: 

“It’s something I had to explore for myself with the Jewish part of my family. On the day of reckoning with this moment in Jewish history, Rosie didn’t understand what he was in for. It’s asking yourself to walk into the fire without knowing what you’re about to see. I knew that I would probably want to take some time and isolate myself from the chaos of the set and be as present as possible on the day of the shooting. We had such a great crew, and Tim Van Patten, who directed that episode, is just brilliant.”

Reflecting on what audiences should grasp from Rosie’s story, Mann says of him that he was not only a person brimming with courage but also “led with warmth, care, and kindness. I think we might have an idea about a hero being this kind of stoic character, but Rosie was a guy who just cared about his men and the people around him, and maybe there’s something that needs to be said for that.”

Check out my full interview with Nate below and stream all episodes of Masters of the Air on Apple TV+:

[Some of the quotes in this article were edited for length and clarity]