In the tense 72 hours before D-Day, and with the fate of the free world hanging in the balance, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Captain James Stagg face an impossible choice: launch the largest seaborne invasion in history or risk losing World War II altogether. Such is the storyline of Pressure, a gripping film from the producers of Darkest Hour, the tense WW2 drama.
Set to hit cinemas on 9 September with an acclaimed cast – featuring Andrew Scott, Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon and Damian Lewis – Pressure is an untold, true story full of suspense, emotion and best-in-class performances, directed by Anthony Maras. It chronicles a critical turning point in WW2, and how these real people had to make decisions that changed the course of history and defined the fate of millions.
© Alex BaileyHELLO! readers can be the first to see Pressure on 7 September, two days ahead of its release, at five exclusive nationwide screenings. Book free tickets for these previews via See It First.
Andrew Scott plays the lead role of James Stagg, a gifted meteorologist, in the wake of his career high from critically acclaimed work in productions like All of Us Strangers and Ripley. He says: “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.”
“It's enormously important for this film to have a huge scale so you feel what’s genuinely at stake, the huge vastness of the actual D-Day landings themselves,” Scott adds.
Alongside him is Brendan Fraser as General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the final authority on Operation Overlord and a future American President, with the actor spending weeks reading every biography he could find on his character, and studying the top-secret battle plans for D-Day that Eisenhower helped to create.
Free screenings of Pressure are happening across five locations nationwide exclusively for HELLO! readers. These will take place on Monday 7 September, two days before the film’s official release.
Cineworld locations include:
- Birmingham – Broad Street
- High Wycombe
- Leeds
- London – Wandsworth
- Newcastle upon Tyne
Damian Lewis also stars as the famous Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (known as Monty), one of the most experienced and successful British army generals working with Eisenhower on D-Day, and Kerry Condon stars as Eisenhower’s loyal aide, Lt Kay Summersby, a role she described as “very interesting to see the private side of Eisenhower in such a stressful situation, and how Kay influences him during that time.”
Pressure was written and directed by Anthony Maras, an Australian filmmaker whose debut feature Hotel Mumbai, starring Dev Patel, premiered to international acclaim and marked him as one of Variety’s Top 10 Directors to Watch.
With Pressure, he turns his attention to the war room behind the largest seaborne invasion in history, and the clash between the military commanders and meteorologists that would determine the fate of WW2.
It's enormously important for this film to have a huge scale so you feel what’s genuinely at stake
A key element of bringing the film to life was finding the right locations for it, including the Allied headquarters and the beaches and ports that would give the story of D-Day a sense of scope and scale.
Maras says: “I really wanted to shoot it in the United Kingdom, because it’s a story so firmly rooted in the DNA of the people here. The people who became our cast and crew have grown up hearing these stories from their parents and grandparents and neighbours and aunts and uncles.”
