– A Moment Where The Weather Was Key –
by Helen O’Hara | The Telegraph | September
From the producers of Darkest Hour, Pressure is in UK cinemas now.
The gripping new drama from director Anthony Maras brings to life the impossible decisions that shaped the Second World War, in cinemas across the UK and Ireland.
You may think you know how World War II was won, but think again. The thrilling new cinematic event that is Pressure, starring BAFTA winner Andrew Scott and Academy Award winner Brendan Fraser, reveals a little-known flashpoint of the War when the Allies came very, very close to utter disaster. Only the determination and dedication of a tiny group of people under unthinkable levels of stress saved us all, and changed the course of the War. This is history as impossibly high-stakes tension, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
The tense British drama is directed by Anthony Maras, the filmmaker who made nailbiting true-life hostage drama Hotel Mumbai back in 2018, and it’s produced by the studios behind hits including Darkest Hour and The Theory Of Everything. They brought aboard not only Scott and Fraser but a stellar cast that includes The Banshees Of Inisherin’s Kerry Condon, Band Of Brothers’ Damian Lewis, and Julie & Julia’s Chris Messina.
The result is a film that Time Out hailed as “terrifically tense” and that The Hollywood Reporter lauded as “riveting.” It’s been called a “gripping cinematic masterpiece” that “grabs you and never lets go.” The clock is ticking down to D-Day, and a single decision that will change the course of the War.
The Telegraph’s Robbie Collin wrote, “Tense and affecting…Andrew Scott is breathtaking.”
Under Pressure
The story takes place at the very beginning of June 1944. American General Dwight D. Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser) has been given command of the Allied forces in Europe, and is in the final stages of planning Operation Overlord, the massive military undertaking we now know as D-Day. For the ambitious amphibious assault to work he needs the vital element of surprise, given that the Germans have fortified the whole Western coast of Europe. But he also absolutely requires good weather, so that he can land the massive numbers of men and supplies needed to liberate France and take the fight to Hitler. Will the British weather cooperate? Or could it doom the whole operation?
Gifted Scottish meteorologist Group Captain James Stagg (Andrew Scott) is brought in to advise on the forecast, but his assertion that a severe storm threatens the chosen date throws everything into chaos. Bullish Field Marshall “Monty” Montgomery (Damian Lewis) wants to push ahead whatever this new forecaster claims, while Eisenhower’s long-standing weatherman, Colonel Irving P Krick (Chris Messina) sticks firmly to his much sunnier prediction.
As Stagg refuses to back down and a desperate, furious Eisenhower faces the failure of his operation after years of careful planning, only the general’s loyal aide Kay Summersby (Kerry Condon) can form a tentative bridge between the two stubborn men, and get them working together to find a way through. “Kay Summersby was no shrinking violet,” says Maras. “She could hold her own in a room full of men, and I thought Kerry was just perfect to embody a character like this.”
The Origins of the Story
The film is based on the play of the same name by actor and playwright David Haig, who always saw the story as a potential film. He was delighted when Maras came aboard to bring it to life in the epic form that the story deserves on the big screen.
“David unearthed such a powerful, poignant story in Pressure, that I felt could not be more relevant today,” says Maras. “I could not stop thinking about it: about its themes of people speaking truth to power, of having the courage to stand by your convictions, of the importance of rational thought in times of extreme pressure. It may be set during wartime, but at heart it’s about how we make the toughest decisions of our lives. No matter how big or small.”
Building Pressure
Casting the film proved remarkably smooth, given the strength of the material and of the team behind it. Scott was instantly drawn to the taciturn Scotsman. “James Stagg struck me as a singular character, quite different to any I’ve played before. He’s not particularly charming or likeable, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t extraordinarily gifted. Our attitude towards him changes as the movie progresses. He’s a great intellect, and deeply passionate and deeply humane, actually – but that’s not something that he shows people right from the beginning. I suppose it’s a film about what we reveal, and who we are at heart.”
Scott’s performance has been singled out for praise, even by the standards of the actor’s established hot streak of work. Time Out described him as “magnetic” while Rolling Stone UK said “Andrew Scott is superb” and The Hollywood Reporter said the turn is “award-worthy.”
Fraser, meanwhile, threw himself into research to play the well-known former US President, trying to find the character of the man beneath the legend thanks to long hours spent at the Imperial War Museum and reading lengthy biographies of the man.
“Eisenhower cared about his troops,” Fraser explains. “They were all his sons, as far as he was concerned. He had the ability to hear everyone out, because he wanted to absolutely succeed, but he didn’t do it at any cost imaginable. That wasn’t a popular notion at that time! I jumped in with both feet, and I gave myself as much intellectual ammunition as I could bear.”
“Like Eisenhower, Brendan [Fraser] had a kindness and a warmth, but wasn’t afraid to be a bulldog when he needed to be.” – Director Anthony Maras
A Home-Grown British Epic
The film shot in the UK, and negotiated the same fickle weather that tormented Eisenhower and his team. Bad weather threatened a huge-scale shoot at Camber Sands, only for a gap of calm seas to emerge just at the right time. For once, the British weather seemed to smile on the filmmakers. Perhaps it was ready for its moment in the sun.
This really was, after all, a moment where the weather was key. In 1961, during his inauguration, President John F. Kennedy asked his predecessor, Eisenhower, how the then-general had prevailed on D-Day. Eisenhower thought for a moment and answered, “We had better meteorologists than the Germans.” Over a decade later the General-turned-President still considered Stagg’s contribution a turning point in the War – and it’s one that is finally brought to life in Pressure, set to be the British cinematic event of the year.
Read the rest of the original article at The Telegraph.