Warfare cast nicknamed Charles Melton ‘Top’ and Will Poulter ‘Daddy’ on set
The Warfare cast gave each other some very interesting nicknames on set (A24)
The Warfare cast gave each other some very interesting nicknames on set (A24)
The cast of upcoming action war film Warfare have revealed their on set nicknames for each other, with Will Poulter’s being ‘Daddy’ and Charles Melton’s ‘Top’.
We know, that sentence is a lot to take in, so let’s recap.
Warfare, from Death of a Unicorn studio A24, stars Heartstopper‘s Kit Connor alongside Charles Melton (May December), Will Poulter (The Bear), Joseph Quinn (Fantastic Four: First Steps) and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (Reservation Dogs) as a U.S. Navy Seal squad in Iraqi insurgent territory in 2006.
Though the subject matter is heavy in the Ray Mendoza (an Iraq war veteran himself) and Alex Garland-directed film, it seems that spirits remained light enough on set for the cast to bestow each other some particularly interesting nicknames.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Quinn said that he was bestowed the moniker ‘Funcle’ while bowling, but that it “never stuck” – something Connor replied to with, “Because he’s not really that fun. Or an uncle, so, you know. Just ‘Joe’ felt more appropriate.”
Connor’s nickname was revealed to be ‘Babyface’, with Woon-A-Tai coming away with a trifecta of alternate identities: ‘DP, Baby Ray, Dozer.’
The #Warfare stars reveal stories behind their nicknames, including how a joke ended up with WIll Poulter’s being “daddy.” https://t.co/x1ldUUWwfr pic.twitter.com/kGJNHMvyyO
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) April 1, 2025
Quinn then revealed that Warfare cast mate Melton actually gave himself the nickname ‘Top’ – but for those out there jumping to conclusions, there’s a very real reason why.
“Originally we called Charles ‘Romeo’, because he’s a bit of a romantic, very handsome,” Connor said, with Poulter admitting that ‘Romeo‘ was “a problem on radio” because of its use in the NATO phonetic alphabet to signify the letter ‘R’.
“[Top] was my dad’s nickname [when he was in the military],” Melton revealed. Minds out of the gutter, people.
Poulter, however, was assigned the nickname ‘Daddy’. “We were walking back from a curry house … and I can’t remember who said it, but someone said, ‘What if started calling Will, ‘Daddy’. We can call him ‘Daddy’ in front of [directors] Alex and Ray, and they’ll hate that. And for some reason everyone loved it.”
To qualify, Poulter added, “It’s mainly because my main role was reminding everyone when laundry day was.” Minds. Gutter.
The official synopsis for Warfare reads as follows: “A platoon of Navy SEALs embark on a dangerous mission in Ramadi, Iraq, with the chaos and brotherhood of war retold through their memories of the event.”
Taylor John Smith, Noah Centino, Cosmo Jarvis, Finn Bennet and Michael Gandolfini all co-star.
Warfare is set for a US premiere on 11 April, and a UK release date on 18 April.
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