Andrew Scott learned all about meteorology for his latest film Pressure
Andrew Scott plays World War II meteorologist James Stagg in a new film Pressure, which explores the crucial role weather forecasting played in D-Day
By Andrea Thompson edited by Kelso Harper & Marta Hill
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If it weren’t for a weather forecast, D-Day—the largest seaborne invasion in history—would have taken place on June 5, as originally planned. And if that had happened, the invasion would have ended in disaster. Thousands of men would have been swamped by storm-whipped waves. Instead Allied forces waited a day, and the rest is history.
The story of this pivotal battle in World War II has been recounted in countless books, movies and miniseries. But one crucial ingredient in the invasion’s success—that forecast—is still little known to the broad public.
The story of that history-bending prediction is the subject of Pressure, a new movie that stars Andrew Scott as WWII meteorologist James Stagg. Senior desk editor Andrea Thompson spoke with the actor about WWII, meteorology and the challenges of analog weather forecasting in the 1940s.
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