Brendan Fraser to play Dwight D Eisenhower in Pressure

Brendan Fraser has been cast as Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D Eisenhower in Pressure, a co-production between StudioCanal and Working Title. Army General Eisenhower was praised for the way he led the US in World War II and went on to be the 34th President of the nation. Fraser joins existing cast member Andrew Scott. The makers of the film are looking for more actors to join the film, with a plan to start production this September.

Anthony Maras will direct the film from a screenplay by David Haig, based on a true story about the tension-filled days before the Normandy landings. Scott stars in the lead role of James Stagg, the Chief Meteorological Officer of the UK, who's responsible for informing Eisenhower about the weather forecast as it has the potential to affect their invasion of Normandy. Haig scripted the film based on his play, exploring the military and personal pressures on Stagg and the growing tensions between one team and the other with different forecasts for the proposed D-Day.

The official plotline reads, “In the seventy-two hours leading up to D-Day, all the pieces are in place except for one key element—the British weather. Britain’s Chief Meteorological Officer James Stagg (Scott) is called upon to deliver the most consequential forecast in history, locking him into a tense standoff with the entire Allied leadership. The wrong conditions could devastate the largest ever seaborne invasion, while any delay risks German intelligence catching on. With only his trusted aide, Captain Kay Summersby, to confide in and haunted by a catastrophic D-Day rehearsal, the final decision rests with Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower (Fraser). With only hours to go, the fate of the war and the lives of millions hang in the balance.”

Fraser, who most recently starred in Martin Scorcese's Killers Of The Flower Moon, has Rental Family in the pipeline. He is also associated with a film regarding William Tell, as well as the Anya Taylor-Joy-Chris Evans starrer Sacrifice.