‘Devotion’, J.D. Dillard Movie Set During The Korean War, Casts Serinda Swan As Elizabeth Taylor
When you hear about a Korean War movie, your first thought probably isn’t, “I wonder who they’re going to cast as Elizabeth Taylor?” But here we are!Devotion, a new movie from directorJ.D. Dillard(Sleight), is about a pair of U.S. Navy fighter pilots who “risk their lives during the Korean War and become some of the Navy’s most celebrated wingmen,” but at some point, legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor pops up in the story as well. And nowDevotionhas castSerinda Swanto play the part.
Deadline broke the news that Serinda Swan, who played Medusa in the short-livedInhumansseries and also appeared onBallers, has been cast to play actress Elizabeth Taylor inDevotion. The movie will “chart the true story of U.S. Navy fighter pilots, Jesse Brown and Tom Hudner, two young men from different worlds. Initiated together into the VF-32 squadron, they are pushed to their limits flying a new design of fighter jet. But their friendship is tested when one of them is shot down behind enemy lines.” At some point, the VF-32 squadron also comes across Taylor “during their shore leave in Cannes, France.” In other words, it doesn’t sound like Elizabeth Taylor isn’t a main character here. Still, it’s not every day we get a war movie where someone playing Elizabeth Taylor shows up.
Devotionalso starsJonathan Majors,Glen Powell, andChristina Jackson. Director J.D. Dillard is in production on the movie right right now. In a separate Deadline article, Dillard says he was on the “lookout for anything with a connection to fighter pilots or naval aviation” for his next project, and that’s when he came acrossJonathan StewartandJake Crane’sDevotionscreenplay based on the book by Adam Makos. The book’s synopsis gives us more insight and even mentions Taylor:
Dillard’s father was also an African American naval aviator, and when the filmmaker read theDevotionscript, he says he “saw an opportunity to also kind of tell my dad’s story: even though he and Jesse were separated by 40 years, the parallels were uncanny. I have a lifetime of my dad elbowing me in the ribs while we’re watching aviation movies and telling me, ‘that’s not what it looks like, that’s not what they say, that’s not what they do.’ I’ve never had a consultant I could so easily call in the middle of reading the script and ask, ‘by the way, can you give me more background on this detail or that.”
