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Film pays homage to TSA workers' struggles during holidays

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Egerton and Carson shadowed TSA agents for realism

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Deadwyler highlights film's focus on compassion and

humanity

By Danielle Broadway

LOS ANGELES, Dec 12 (Reuters) - For actor Taron Egerton,

the Netflix ( NFLX ) action film "Carry-On" pays homage to Transportation

Security Administration (TSA) workers and the on-the-job

struggles they encounter, especially during the holiday season.

"Our movie is absolutely a kind of spiritual salute to those

guys, so I really hope that they feel good about it when they

see it," Egerton told Reuters.

Egerton stars in the movie as TSA agent Ethan Kopek, who is

searching for direction in his life with encouragement from his

girlfriend, Nora Parisi, played by Sofia Carson.

The film, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, also stars

Danielle Deadwyler as Elena Cole, who is an FBI agent.

The story follows Kopek as he is enlisted by a devious

stranger played by Jason Bateman to help pass a dangerous

package through security and onto a flight that departs on

Christmas Day.

"Carry-On," the first film spawning from the collaboration

between Netflix ( NFLX ) and Steven Spielberg's Amblin Partners, arrives

on Netflix ( NFLX ) on Friday.

For Deadwyler, the film resonates with anyone who has caught

a flight during the holiday season.

"Christmas is chaos. The airport is chaos," she said.

"This is a dope experience to bring people back into a kind

of nostalgia that they've had with past Christmas action films,"

she added, comparing "Carry-On" to the film "Die Hard."

To make the movie more realistic, Egerton and Carson modeled

real-life TSA agents and airport workers.

"As part of my prep, I got to shadow a director of airport

operations in the New Orleans airport for a few days," Carson

said.

"It's not an easy feat to make an airport run, or to be a

TSA agent," she added.

Deadwyler echoed this, saying that the film goes beyond its

action scenes and delves into the humanity of people and the

importance of compassion.

"Everybody at the airport needs love and support and

compassion for the work that they do, because it's not just at

the holidays that they're dealing with all of us and all of our

anxieties," she said.