Damian Lewis impressed his Pressure director Anthony Maras with his “photographic memory” after memorising a long and complicated speech just minutes before they were due to film the scene.
Damian Lewis impressed Pressure director Anthony Maras with his “photographic memory” on set.
The 55-year-old actor stars in the new World War II drama as British commander Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery opposite Andrew Scott as Royal Air Force meteorologist James Stagg and Brendan Fraser as US General Dwight D. Eisenhower in the story of how weather reports affected the planning of the D-Day landings – and Maras has revealed he was taken aback by Lewis’ skill after the screen star managed to memorise a long and complicated speech just minutes before they were due to film the scene.
Speaking at the Pressure premiere in London, Maras told PEOPLE: “Damian Lewis has to do a scene where he has to speak for two minutes in front of a video or a film projector, showing what all the preparations have been done for D-Day up until that point. We didn’t cut this until the last minute.
“He didn’t have time to prepare, so initially, I was going to do it on a computer in such a way as to time it to how he spoke. He said, ‘Forget all that, let me see the video’.
“He said, ‘Let me have a look at it.’ He looks, [says], ‘Show me it one more time.’ He goes, ‘Alright, I’m ready.’ I’m like, ‘Come on, mate.’ He goes, ‘I’m ready’.”
Maras explained Lewis managed to recite the speech perfectly even though he had only heard the words twice.
He added: “I don’t know what kind of photographic, weird memory he has, but he synced his speech to the frame, to the second of what was playing behind him that he’d only seen twice.
“He’s got some kind of special talent for that, or eyes in the back of his head maybe, I don’t know.”
Scott previously opened up about taking on the role of the wartime weatherman, telling the BBC he was happy to bring a real life “unsung hero” to the big screen.
He said: “Group Captain James Stagg may not have been the most charming person, but I think he had a huge amount of humility in the face of nature. And that’s one of the themes I think of the film.
“He appeared to me to be an extraordinarily interesting cinematic character, as well as an unsung hero from history.
“It was a wonderful part to play … [He] wasn’t a particularly garrulous character … So many of the heroes in our own lives don’t have that big swashbuckling moment.
“And you know, a hero comes in all different shapes and sizes. I tried not to be afraid of the fact that perhaps, at the beginning, the audience might be like, ‘Who is this guy?’ And hopefully by the end we understand his motivations and his inner workings.”
Damian Lewis impressed Pressure director with his ‘photographic memory’
