Photos and videos of my father strapped snugly to the seats of fighter jets, mirrored visor down and his microphone pressed firmly against his lips, are among the first images that I really remember. During the rollout of this film, I’ve started to realize that this is probably where my childhood obsession with daring and fearless helmeted characters comes from. From Batman to Boba Fett, I’d always felt like my dad was a contemporary among these swaggering, mysterious heroes.
Beyond the aesthetic interest, there was something else that my dad gave me — a fervent commitment to the pursuit of your dream. When my dad was freshly a teenager, he lost his father very unexpectedly. In the summer that followed, he was taken to an air show at the Willow Grove Naval Air Station, a small, now-defunct base outside Philadelphia. Nearing the end of the show, the headliners roared above to begin their performance — the U.S. Navy’s flight demonstration team, the Blue Angels.
This story first appeared in a December stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine,