What do you do before ordering hundreds of thousands of men into an invasion of Europe? What kind of pressure does that put on a leader? That’s the big question behind “Pressure,” a new film charting Gen. Dwight Eisenhower’s stressful hours leading up to the launch of D-Day. It’s also about the weather.
“Pressure,” adapted from writer David Haig’s 2014 play of the same name, arrives this spring and just released its trailer. The new film stars Brendan Fraser (“The Whale,” “George of the Jungle”) as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe Eisenhower himself, overseeing the last 72 hours before Operation Overlord commences. With the weight of the war on his shoulders, he needs everything to go right. “The fate of the war, thousands of lives, hinge on this,” the actor from “The Mummy” says of the invasion. He also needs a weather forecast. Enter Group Captain James Stagg (Andrew Scott), a meteorologist who sees bad storms coming in across the English Channel and warns that the invasion could be swept away. Cue high tensions, explosive blow ups and debates over meteorological findings.
PRESSURE – Official Trailer [HD] – Only In Theaters May 29
It’s a weird premise, but a true story. World War II history buffs and people who have seen “Band of Brothers” know the invasion was postponed a day. It was a risky gamble for Eisenhower and the Allies to make. Send the forces in through rough conditions and it could be a catastrophe. Wait too long and risk the Nazis learning about the attack.
The weight of D-Day is made worse for Eisenhower because of the invasion’s disastrous dress rehearsal, Exercise Tiger. That spring 1944 trial run in Britain led to hundreds of deaths, first in a friendly fire incident during the first day of the exercise and then when the Nazi navy attacked. The trailer for “Pressure” shows the bloody aftermath of it, with bodies bobbing along the coastal tide. Eisenhower knew invading Normandy would be a costly battle, but needed to avoid a catastrophe like Tiger.
Meteorology remains a key part of planning high-risk military operations. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine noted the importance that good weather conditions played in January’s attack on Venezuela. It was only when the poor weather over Caracas broke that the go-ahead for Operation Absolute Resolve was given, to allow special operations helicopters and several fighter jets to begin their attack.
Anthony Maras, who co-wrote the script with Haig, directs the adaptation. It’s been 80 years since the end of the war, the film industry has moved away from retelling some of the bigger battles and conventional anti-Axis combat to trying to highlight other parts of the Allied struggle. “Pressure” is more in the mold of films like “Darkest Hour” or “Operation Mincement.” Of course, the trailer does show plenty of fighting on the beaches of Normandy, so this won’t be a war movie confined to bunkers and boardrooms.
“Pressure” arrives in theaters on May 29.
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Nicholas Slayton is a Contributing Editor for Task & Purpose. In addition to covering breaking news, he writes about history, shipwrecks, and the military’s hunt for unidentified anomalous phenomenon (formerly known as UFOs).