How Brendan Fraser prepared to play one of America’s greatest generals in ‘Pressure’

The world is no stranger to World War II cinema, a genre that often highlights the behind-the-scenes tragedies and triumphs that defined the global conflict between 1939 and 1945. At the center of that history sits D-Day — the turning point of the war and the largest seaborne invasion in history.

While Hollywood typically trains its cameras on the storming of the beaches, little has been told about the unprecedented weather forecasting and preparation in the 72 hours leading up to the invasion. Before the first gun was fired and the first boot hit the sand, the call to go or not go ultimately hinged on one factor: the weather.

The new historical drama “Pressure,” which opens in theaters May 29, features the untold story behind the weather forecasts of June 5 and 6, 1944. The film sheds light on the circumstances that influenced the decisions made by military leaders — decisions that would impact hundreds of thousands of lives.

Britain’s chief meteorological officer, James Stagg (Andrew Scott), is tasked with delivering the most consequential forecast in history, and one that nobody wants to hear. On the day of the planned D-Day invasion, weather looks grim. Delaying the operation risks letting German intelligence catch on, but launching under the wrong conditions could devastate the Allied forces.

At the epicenter of the final call was Gen. Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower, the five-star general beloved and trusted by millions.

Portraying one of the most respected military minds in American history is no easy feat, a reality actor Brendan Fraser took to heart.

To prepare for the role, Fraser told the Deseret News he leaned into “careful research,” and a lot of it. Fraser said he was “listening to podcasts until my ears hurt, reading what I could until my eyes crossed and trying to soak up as much about the life of Dwight D. Eisenhower as this piece of cheese brain can hold.”

While “Pressure” focuses heavily on the pivotal weather prediction and efforts of meteorologist Stagg, it also showcases Eisenhower’s leadership and integrity during some of the Allied forces’ most critical hours.

Through his research, Fraser began to understand how a man like Eisenhower went about making the call that would determine the fate of the war.

“I learned that he was a leader who was greatly admired in his time, that he was an excellent diplomat; he was an individual who listened to people, he didn’t just hear them. There is a difference,” Fraser said. “He didn’t pretend to know what he didn’t know; he left that to the experts, but he listened to everyone and then formulated the opinions and choices that he needed to based on that.”

Those under Eisenhower’s command respected their general, Fraser noted, because that respect was a two-way street. “He cared deeply for his command of those troops.”

The weight of Slapton Sands

To help audiences get a glimpse of the weight resting on Eisenhower’s shoulders, director Anthony Maras and his creative team chose to open the film by acknowledging a devastating training exercise: Exercise Tiger.

Six weeks before D-Day, the Allies conducted a massive, live-ammo dress rehearsal at Slapton Sands in southern England, with “eerily similar” conditions to the beaches of Normandy, Maras told Deseret News.

Catastrophe ensued after a series of events, including interference from a fleet of German E-boats, caused confusion and miscommunication among American troops. In total, 749 American lives were lost — making it the deadliest training incident in American history. Exercise Tiger was not formally acknowledged until about 40 years later.

Maras noted that “starting with literally the blood in the water” impacts how audiences view the arguments that follow.

It “sets up what the consequences of failure are,” Maras said, adding that the arguments inside the weather room “take on a different meaning because failure means a much bigger version of the death count” the film opened with.

“Going into D-Day, you put yourself in Eisenhower’s position,” Maras said. “He’s thinking, ‘If we couldn’t even get a training exercise with our own men right, how many hundreds of thousands are going to die when we do the real thing against real soldiers, Nazis, dug into the hillside shooting at us?’”

Fraser echoed the sentiment, noting that the ghost of Slapton Sands loomed large over the command staff, especially Eisenhower. “Eisenhower could not have not had that on his mind, on his conscience, when he was confronted with the prospect of needing to delay the largest seaborne invasion in our history.”

“He was an excellent diplomat, he was an individual who listened to people; he didn’t just hear them. There is a difference. He didn’t pretend to know what he didn’t know; he left that to the experts, but he listened to everyone and then formulated the opinions and choices that he needed to based on that.”

—  Brendan Fraser

By establishing the very real consequences of failure early on, the film intensifies what could otherwise be a dry historical debate about weather patterns and barometric pressure, inviting audiences to learn about and feel the tension in the room.

According to Maras, the historical record already held all the dramatic tension a filmmaker could ask for — a frantic, three-day period where the fate of the free world rested on strong-willed personalities who shared the same goal but had different maps on how to get there.

That’s an understanding Maras hopes audiences walk away with.

“You’ve got a scientist, a meteorologist, coming in, looking the most powerful figure in World War II in the eye and telling him something that he or no one wants to hear, which is it’s going to be a horrific failure,” Maras said.

For the filmmakers, the heroism of D-Day isn’t just found on the battlefield, but in the room where the leaders chose to lay down their egos and listen.

“To watch these great minds, these great arguments, these strong-willed characters knock up against one another — it’s entertaining, but there’s a heroism in that,” said Maras. “The scientist who’s willing to speak the truth to power and the leader who has the wisdom to figure out who to trust. That’s entertaining, but there’s also some deep lessons to learn in there.”