In the tense 72 hours before D-Day, and with the fate of the free world hanging in the balance, Pressure follows General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Captain James Stagg as they face an impossible choice – launch the largest and most dangerous seaborne invasion in history or risk losing the war altogether.

With millions of lives and the fate of the War at stake, Stagg went head-to-head with General Eisenhower and Allied leadership in the days immediately before the attack, becoming the key factor in the final, momentous decision, to go…or not go. Stagg had told his own story after the war, but it had never been fully examined or adapted, and Haig saw a jaw-dropping corner of history that needed to be explored.

For all the technology, air support and vast armies of troops involved, they still needed two vital elements: surprise, and a cooperative spell of good weather. The Allies needed the visibility of a full moon to drop both bombs and paratroopers from the air, and calm seas and friendly tides to launch the small boats to the shores and to float the harbours into place. A bad storm could cause the failure of all the plans for D-Day and lengthen the War by many months or even years, at the cost of tens of thousands of lives.

Andrew Scott stars as James Stagg, the supremely gifted meteorologist who must withstand the pressure of the war’s most revered, and feared, military leadership. “James Stagg struck me as a singular character, quite different to any I’ve played before,” says Scott. “He’s a great intellect, and deeply passionate and deeply humane, actually – but that’s not something that he shows people right from the beginning. I suppose it’s a film about what we reveal, and who we are at heart.”

Brendan Fraser stars as Eisenhower, the final authority on Operation Overlord and a future American President. “Eisenhower was someone that America loved and trusted, and I think Brendan Fraser is someone that the world loves, and trusts,” says director Anthony Maras. “Brendan brings a real complexity and vulnerability to a leader who was more multidimensional than you might expect. Behind the easy confidence and charm, he wrestled with profound self-doubt in his private moments.”

The cast also includes Kerry Condon as Kay Summersby, Chris Messina as Irving Krick and Damian Lewis as Bernard ‘Monty’ Montgomery. Based on the stage play by David Haig, the screenplay is by David Haig and Anthony Maras, with Anthony Maras directing.

Pressure arrives in cinemas regionally on 17 September 2026, the trailer can be viewed here.