Pressure, Part 2 - Flicks (2026)

The storms that I'm talking about are real and the wrath of nature is real. Andrew Scott plays the weather forecaster named James Stagg who before D-Day had to decide exactly when it would be possible to launch what really mattered to all of western civilization. He's intense, hard to read and of course under great pressure. That's absolutely what I felt like the challenge was with this particular character that you're able to play the incremental feeling of not just the pressure that he would be feeling in relation to D-Day but also an added sort of pressure in relation to what was happening in his personal life. There's a meteorological pressure that the title of the movie suggests but also I think it's psychological pressure that he's under as well and I think for that reason it's um it's aptly titled and uh what was important and very um enlightening for me was that you know these were human beings that were were reading the weather you know over the phone and writing things out and pencil and rubbing them out and and trying to work things out in a way that I don't think we can even begin to sort of fathom and you know in 2026. And well also your character is not an effusive kind of person. No. Very internal which is another acting challenge. Yes one of the one of the things I love about him was that he's not particularly charming or effusive or you know I always say that that you want to listen to what he's saying rather than how he's saying it. He's not manipulative in that sense. The actual person was probably a genius? Uh yeah in some ways I think so yes. And courage I would imagine to take on anything at this level. Yeah well because the enormous pressure when someone's saying we need this answer we need this answer give it to us and to be able to say I'm sorry I'm not going to give that to you. Even going into the war rooms there's a there's a couple of of scenes where I had to go in and and make a kind of war report for these people and even doing that in front of 200 people as an actor was intimidating. So um to imagine what he was like with these blank faced um aggressive in some in some cases people looking at at this this this man who they just thought was just a case of dotting the i's and crossing the t's we're going to get this forecast and then we have to go ahead and when he says sorry I'm not going to do that to for 300,000 soldiers who were waiting to be deployed it was an extraordinary uh courageous thing to um to stand by. Yeah just the future of the world depending on. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you so much lovely talking to you all the very best. Flicks with Patrick Stoner explores the craft and culture of films and streaming series that enhance our communities for television stations and websites around the country.