Australian writer-director Jonathan Teplitzky (The Railway Man) directs Brian Cox as one of Britain’s most prominent and complex icons, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, at a nail-bitingly crucial stage of World War II.
Written by author and historian Alex von Tunzelmann, Churchill tells the story of the 48 hours before the D-Day landings in 1944. Allied Forces stand on the brink with a massive army secretly assembled on Britain’s south coast, poised to re-take Nazi-occupied Europe but waiting for Churchill’s potentially triumphant – or utterly disastrous – OK.
Teplitzky’s film promises a look behind the iconic figure and rousing speeches: a man who had previously faced political ridicule, military failure and a speech impediment in his career to the top.
Drawing heavily on Churchill’s relationship with his beloved wife Clementine (Miranda Richardson), and with an excellent wider supporting cast including John Slattery (as Eisenhower), James Purefoy (as King George VI) and Ella Purnell (as Churchill’s secretary), this immersive biopic reveals the terrifying anxieties, both personal and political, at the heart of a fascinating man and historical moment.