Fraser read Eisenhower’s calls before filming “Pressure”

Brendan Fraser says he immersed himself in research—podcasts, reading, and studying Dwight D. Eisenhower’s decision-making—to portray Eisenhower in the World War II drama “Pressure,” which opens in theaters May 29.

On the wall of the forecast room, the decision isn’t supposed to feel personal. It’s supposed to be weather charts and barometric pressure—facts, not fear.

But in “Pressure,” opening in theaters May 29, the call behind D-Day is framed as something heavier than calculations. The film centers on the 72 hours leading up to the June 5 and June 6, 1944 invasion, when the fate of hundreds of thousands of lives hinged on whether the weather would cooperate.

Brendan Fraser takes on the role of Gen. Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower, the five-star general trusted and beloved by millions. Playing one of America’s most respected military minds, Fraser said, required more than performance—it required immersion. He told Deseret News that his preparation leaned into “careful research. ” and “a lot of it.” He 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.”.

In the film’s portrayal, meteorologist James Stagg—played by Andrew Scott—delivers the forecast no one wants to hear. On the day of the planned D-Day invasion, weather looks grim. Delaying the operation could allow German intelligence to catch on. but launching in the wrong conditions could devastate the Allied forces.

What Fraser says he carried from the research into his performance was the kind of leadership Eisenhower practiced under pressure—one rooted in listening, not performance.

Fraser said he learned that Eisenhower was “a leader who was greatly admired in his time. ” and an “excellent diplomat.” Fraser described Eisenhower as someone who listened to people rather than simply “hearing them. ” adding. “There is a difference.” He said Eisenhower “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, Fraser said, respected him because that respect moved both ways. “He cared deeply for his command of those troops.”

The stakes in “Pressure” are sharpened not just by the forecast itself. but by what the film presents as an ominous shadow over the decision-making process: a deadly rehearsal called Exercise Tiger. Six weeks before D-Day, the Allies ran a massive, live-ammo dress rehearsal at Slapton Sands in southern England. Director Anthony Maras told Deseret News that conditions were “eerily similar” to the beaches of Normandy.

The training exercise turned catastrophic after 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 said the opening decision to put audiences “starting with literally the blood in the water” changes how viewers understand what follows. It “sets up what the consequences of failure are. ” Maras said. and he added that the weather-room arguments “take on a different meaning because failure means a much bigger version of the death count” once audiences have seen the film’s grim starting point.

Maras also described the mental pressure Eisenhower faced as the date approached—especially given what happened when the Allies tried to rehearse. “Going into D-Day, you put yourself in Eisenhower’s position,” he 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 that idea of a lingering burden. He said the ghost of Slapton Sands loomed over the command staff. especially Eisenhower. and that 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.”.

In the film, Eisenhower is also shown as navigating conflict with the kind of restraint Fraser described through his research. The drama doesn’t treat leadership as a performance; it treats it as a process of weighing expert advice while deciding what must be done anyway.

Maras said the historical record already contains the tension filmmakers look for: a frantic three-day period where the fate of the free world rested on strong-willed personalities with the same goal but different maps for reaching it.

He described the scene as a meeting of temperaments—“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.”

The film’s approach. Maras said. locates heroism not only on the battlefield but in the room where leaders set ego aside 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. ” he said. “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.”.

Brendan Fraser Pressure Eisenhower D-Day weather James Stagg Andrew Scott Exercise Tiger Slapton Sands World War II drama May 29 release