Brendan Fraser figured he knew his history. Growing up in Holland in the 1970s, he’d go to London and visit the Imperial War Museum. He got to see military hardware. “It’s eye-opening,” he says. “It was scary to me.”
He’d read books. He’d seen the films, and he even heard first-hand accounts from neighbors who hid paintings from Nazis. Yet, there was one story he didn’t know about: how General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Captain James Stagg found themselves under pressure in the 72 hours before D-Day. As the fate of the free world hangs in the balance, Eisenhower and Stagg face an impossible choice: launch the largest and most dangerous seaborne invasion in history or risk losing the war altogether. That story is the subject of his latest film, “Pressure.”
Fraser says, “When director Anthony Maras sent me this screenplay based on David Haig’s play, and it was about the weekend before the landing on the beaches of Normandy, I thought, ‘I guess that could be interesting.’”
In the film, Andrew Scott plays Stagg, the Scottish meteorologist tasked with assembling a D-Day weather forecast for Eisenhower, played by Fraser.
As Fraser read the screenplay, he learned numerous things. “I didn’t know there was a delay.” He says, “In our modern life, we look at a phone to tell us what we need to know. In 1944, meteorology was largely looking at a window, the sky, or the records kept from years previous. The science of that was still being formulated, and this screenplay impressed on me how much was at stake, and the cost of delaying the invasion would have had.”
It’s that old formula that puts Stagg under stress, ensuring he gets that reading right. If he’s wrong, thousands of soldiers would die, and it’s up to Eisenhower to make the decision of listening to Stagg or not.
Fraser says, “It’s the story of Andrew Scott’s character, standing in the stream like a boulder and knowing the future and that it is bad news, and he must convince immutable individuals, right if they ignore him, it’s at everyone’s peril. and he is but a lowly nerdy biologist meteorologist, and as a non-commissioned officer, he was kicked upstairs.”
As for Eisenhower, Fraser admits the general and eventual U.S. President was someone he didn’t know too much about. “I read until my eyes hurt and I listened to podcasts,” he says of his research.
In finding his voice, Fraser admits, “I grappled with what does Ike sound like?”
Eisenhower’s recording of the famous “Order of the Day” speech helped him. “I was directed to give it the drama and feeling that you do. I had to admire how Eisenhower could have kept a dry eye speaking those words…it’s the mark of a stone cold professional, in my view, because the language just broke me.”
As part of his research, Fraser says he went to London’s Imperial War museum with the cast and he got to see archives. “They brought documents out to us that are authentic. Let me tell you, I had in these two hands a copy of the playbook Operation Overlord.” He continues, “There was rust on the page.” And “Top Secret” was typed on the document. “I could not understand the density of the military jargon, but it was a document that was meant to be read in part.” He says in awe, “I put my hands on it. It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck.”
The film shot at Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire, England, and Fraser reveals he had a deja vu moment when he walked onto the film’s set and second floor office. He says, “Oh gosh, this is the same location that was used in ‘The Mummy Returns.’ John Hannah jumped out of it into a crash mat.”
As previously announced, Fraser and Rachel Weisz are officially returning for a fourth installment of the blockbuster franchise, “The Mummy.”
The film is set to be released on May 19, 2028. Asked about what audiences can expect, Fraser replies, “It’s getting the band back together again, and giving them what they want, which is a fun movie that’s a thrill ride. And you want to do it again.”
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