How D-Day Drama ‘Pressure’ Managed To Step Out ‘Saving Private Ryan’s Shadow

BusinessHollywood & EntertainmentHow D-Day Drama ‘Pressure’ Managed To Step Out ‘Saving Private Ryan’s ShadowByJosh Weiss,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Josh Weiss is a writer covering the nexus of pop culture and Judaism.Follow AuthorMay 31, 2026, 04:36pm EDTMay 31, 2026, 04:36pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Production still from director Anthony Maras' PRESSURE, a Focus Features release.Courtesy of Alex Bailey/Focus Features/STUDIOCANALIf you’re a filmmaker looking to recreate the events of D-Day, there’s just no escaping the impact of Saving Private Ryan. Steven Spielberg’s depiction of the Allied invasion of Normandy was so raw and visceral, that it literally triggered PTSD in veterans who had landed on the beaches that fateful day in June 1944. In other words, it set the standard for every World War II movie that came after.“It’s how the world knows D-Day,” director Anthony Maras (Hotel Mumbai) told me over Zoom as we discussed his new war drama, Pressure. “At least how the Western world knows D-Day.”Adapted by David Haig from his stage play of the same name, the film mainly revolves around the military decision-makers (like Brendan Fraser’s General Dwight “Ike” D. Eisenhower and Damian Lewis’s General “Monty” Montgomery) in the tense days leading up to the amphibious assault that ultimately turned the tide of the conflict in Europe. That said, the story does culminate with soldiers disembarking off the boats onto the French coast and into enemy fire.“I think Saving Private Ryan is inherently different, in that it is very much from the point-of-view of the soldiers in the boats, the grunts who are going to lose their flesh and blood in this battle,” posited Maras. “There is a palpable terror and humanity in what these poor young guys are going to go through."MORE FOR YOU He continued: "With Pressure,...