Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon, and Anthony Maras on Pressure: Inside the High-Stakes Drama Pushing Them to the Edge
Brendan Fraser and Kerry Condon sit down with director Anthony Maras to dig into Pressure, their latest feature with Andrew Scott — candid stories, sharp insights, and a peek behind the scenes.
If you've kept an eye on Anthony Maras ever since Hotel Mumbai, you're probably curious what he's been up to. Well, here's your answer: Pressure, a World War II drama that zooms right in on a rather overlooked historical moment – the lead-up to D-Day, viewed through the eyes of meteorologist James Stagg. It's a properly tense story, as the title not-so-subtly hints, and Maras has wrangled together a cast that raises plenty of eyebrows (in a good way).
The Story: Stagg On The Brink
At the heart of Pressure is James Stagg, the real-life weather expert tasked with advising Eisenhower in the crucial 72 hours before Allied forces landed in Normandy. While most war films are off chasing bombs and bullets, this one goes for backroom drama. It leans on David Haig's stage play (Haig is co-writer on the film, so it's got that pedigree baked in), and the focus is on how the right or wrong weather call could change the whole course of the war.
Who's Who In The Cast
- Andrew Scott steps in as James Stagg. Given Scott's reputation for picking nuanced, layered roles, it feels spot on.
- Brendan Fraser – yes, post-Oscar-renaissance Fraser – takes on General Dwight 'Ike' Eisenhower. It's a risk, fair to say. Not everyone's first image of Eisenhower, but apparently Fraser gives it a real presence.
- Kerry Condon appears as Kay Summersby, Eisenhower's driver and confidante. You’ve probably seen her stealing scenes in The Banshees of Inisherin; here, she’s more than holding her own.
Behind The Curtain: Staging To Screen
Had a word with Anthony Maras about adapting a play like this – turns out he’s not one for slavish page-to-screen copying. He talked about wanting to avoid the "filmed stage play" trap and making sure the stake-setting and drama didn’t get swallowed up by the scale of WWII. Maras was also fairly open about the challenges, noting how “it’s history, but not the bit everyone thinks they know.”
Casting & Character Choices
Kerry Condon mentioned that Kay Summersby’s role is about more than just background detail. Playing her meant digging into the complexities of working side-by-side with someone as famous (and complicated) as Eisenhower, all while the fate of Europe hung overhead. Condon pointed out, not for the first time, that being the only major woman in a film like this puts a certain pressure of its own on the performance.
As for Brendan Fraser: after some quick reminiscences on his past roles – including a few sly hints at another Mummy film in the works – he dove into how intimidating it is to play a figure like Eisenhower. He admitted the weight of portraying someone "whose decisions shaped the twentieth century," and then bristled at the clock running out on the interview, as he had so much more to say.
Something To Watch?
Pressure isn’t your standard war epic. This one’s all sharp dialogue, tense rooms, and the sort of performances you rarely get in the genre. It hits UK cinemas on 29 May. If you like your historical drama heavy on brains and character (with the odd thunderstorm thrown in), put it on your list.