The Marvel Cinematic Universe and Snowfall have collided with Anthony Mackie and Damson Idris in the new Netflix futuristic sci-fi/war-hybrid film, Training. 

In the film, a drone pilot (Idris) is sent into a deadly militarized zone and finds himself partnered with an android officer (Mackie) on a mission to stop a doomsday device.

“It was the idea of a Training Day,” said Mackie on wanting to do this project and take on this role, one that is kind of in the same vein of Kovacs on Altered Carbon. “When I read the script, I saw Training Day. I love it’s one of my favorite movies, how Denzel was able to manipulate Ethan Hawke into, you know, the reality and the situation that he wanted to put him in. And, you know, as as a black man, every day, I asked myself, is it our job to effect change, or to walk out and be affected by the change that’s around us. So, when I read the script and I saw all that stuff in it and the opportunity to have a young Black actor alongside with me, which would be a huge opportunity for him or her, you know, it was, um, I felt like it was a no-brainer that I would do it.”

In the film, Idris’ character encounters a lot of moral conflict when it comes to the sentiments surrounding the war. “When we first meet Harp, he’s a drone pilot who is very good at being a drone pilot, but when he’s thrust into the Marines alongside Mackie’s character, Leo, he has no idea what he’s doing,” he said. “Above all things, the biggest thing that Harp talks about is believing in what we’re doing here that is trying to create peace. He says this is a peacekeeping mission. So I think just throughout this movie, it’s about him seeing Leo’s tactics and understanding that this is going against everything he thought was right. Everything he was told. And that’s why we finally get to the outcome of the end.”

Watch the interview below:

Outside the Wire is streaming on Netflix now.