A search through wartime footage brought Australian director Anthony Maras’s Pressure an unexpected recruit: the grandson of the meteorologist at the centre of the film.
In an ABC interview published on 3 November, Maras described expanding his team to work through more than 50 hours of archival material. Researchers and editors brought in friends to help meet the deadline, without briefing them on the project’s subject.
One newcomer introduced himself as James Stagg. When colleagues explained that their protagonist shared his name and was a wartime meteorologist, he revealed that Stagg was his grandfather.
The footage was more than reference material. The production incorporated colourised archival images of Operation Overlord’s mobilisation, drawing on material filmed by Hollywood cinematographers enlisted during the war. The changes in film stock are visible in the film’s mobilisation scenes.
Pressure stars Andrew Scott as Stagg and Brendan Fraser as Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose decision about the D-Day landings depends on the weather forecast.
Post-production took place in Adelaide, reuniting Maras with collaborators he has worked with for 20 years.
