In filmmaker J.D. Dillard’s upcoming historical drama Devotion, stars Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell portray real-life wingmen Ensign Jesse Brown and Lieutenant Tom Hudner, two U.S. Navy fighter pilots who served in the Korean War. Based on the novel by author Adam Makos, Devotion chronicles the aviators’ bravery and determination when they make the conscious choice of honor and devotion, even when all the odds are stacked against them.

During their interview with Collider’s Editor-in-Chief Steve Weintraub, the duo has high praise for the “poignant and cinematic” film, lauding the breathtaking work of Oscar-winning cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, and emphasizing the importance of witnessing the film in theaters in the IMAX format it was intended. They also speak on the responsibility of portraying real-life figures and approaching the project with Major’s mindset that “Every day’s a big day.” You can read the full interview below, or watch the video above.

COLLIDER: A lot of people in the last few years have gotten comfortable watching movies at home, and Devotion, to me, is a movie you want to experience in a movie theater. You want to get off your ass, you want to see this on a huge screen. Can you both talk about that, that this is a movie theater movie?

GLEN POWELL: I'll just jump in. This movie is shot in a format with Academy Award-winning [Director of Photography] Erik Messerschmidt.

JONATHAN MAJORS: Messerschmidt.

POWELL: Who won the Oscar for Mank. It is shot on IMAX format, incredible. If you look at the storytelling within the frame, we're using real airplanes. We built an entire carrier. You're looking at these war scenes taking place on the ground. Huge epic crane moves over battlefields, and hundreds and hundreds of extras. We are recreating The Korean War, a war that hasn't been put on screen in decades. The beautiful part of this story, the reason I think this story is not only poignant but cinematic, is that it, at the heart of it, is this intimate story of friendship, and family, and devotion. But on a cinematic level, we take a drama and give it so much scope. If you do not see this in the theater, you're missing out because there's a lot to see on camera in this movie.

MAJORS: Yeah. There's also a lot to feel. Theater drama is made for the masses. The way theater came to us as a species is we would gather together in large groups to watch it. There'd be reenactments of marriages, of war, of journeys. It was important that we all saw it together to witness and to take on that moment of catharsis, so we could all heal, and grow, and be put in a mindset that would allow us to collectively move forward. I would say do yourself the service of having that experience, that communal experience, both for the visuals, but also for the emotional journey that this film offers.

POWELL: Amen. I'll also say this, in terms of Thanksgiving - I was talking about this with a lot of my friends and family who have gotten to see the movie - it has appealed to absolutely everyone. If you are going to see a movie on Thanksgiving, this movie appeals to absolutely everyone. Exactly what you're talking about, that collective experience. Everyone leaves feeling fulfilled and challenged and inspired in the same way with different points of view and different perspectives. I just think that's such a rare thing in movies. Please go see it in the largest format possible.

MAJORS: Please.

I am a fan of both of your work. I'm curious, when you are making a movie like this, on what day of the shoot are you actually feeling comfortable in the role? Or are you never comfortable, or are you confident on Day One? I'm curious about your mindset when you're inhabiting real people.

POWELL: I'm just going to quote Jonathan Majors on this. "Every day's a big day."

MAJORS: Every day's a big day, yeah.

POWELL: On a movie like this, when you approach characters like this who there is so much, I would say, pressure to do their story right, you can't take your foot off the gas. You can't quit, and you can't have a day off. That's one thing that having someone like this across from you at every stage of this thing gives you so much confidence.

Because on this movie, I met Jonathan Majors and approached him to play Jesse Brown. I met, on set, Jesse Brown every day. That's a beautiful thing to feel the spirit of the man he's embodying every day. Jonathan Majors never had one day off, never had one moment off. It's an incredible thing to watch. That's another thing I'll challenge everybody to go see this movie, is it's a truly transformative experience for me to watch someone I know so well, that I'm so comfortable with, that I love, Jonathan Majors, but to watch this movie and watch it over and over and see Jesse Brown is truly why you go to the movies, to see performances like this and to see performances like this in a scope like this.

Anyway, go see it.

MAJORS: Jesus. I'm just going to say that Tom Hudner and Glen Powell are the two individuals that I met maybe three years ago. Glen held onto that spirit of him, brought him to work, pitched me the opportunity of Jesse Brown with that ethos, with that point of view. When we were shooting it, he was present. You were with it for five years, six years, yeah?

POWELL: Yeah.

MAJORS: Six years now. A.A.B., Always assume brilliance. Right? Always assume brilliance. So whatever he brought in, I thought "That's it." Right? "That's perfect." I think I've said that to you. “The scene is perfect, even if it goes astray, it's perfect. We need this to get to that.” There was no one I have felt so comfortable with the mess of it, with the complexity of it.

From the beginning, I have a certain process. Yes, from the beginning, from the second I hit Georgia, I was in Jesse Brown's world and trying to conjure his psyche. That was only supported by coming to the tarmac and meeting Tom Hudner, Glen Powell. Yeah, to answer the question, humbly, we attempted to be in it Day One. Yeah.

Devotion soars into theaters on November 23. For more from the film, check out Collider's interview with the cast and Dillard from the Toronto International Film Festival.