Everything about Peter Weir totally explained
Peter Lindsay Weir (born
21 August,
1944) is an
Australian
film director.
Born in
Sydney, Australia, Weir attended
The Scots College before studying
art and
law at the
University of Sydney. His interest in film was sparked by his meeting with fellow students, including
Phillip Noyce and the future members of the Sydney filmmaking collective
Ubu Films.
Early life and career
After leaving university in the mid-1960s he joined
Sydney television station
ATN-7, where he worked as a production assistant on the groundbreaking satirical comedy program
The Mavis Bramston Show. During this period, using station facilities, he made his first two experimental short films,
Count Vim's Last Exercise and
The Life and Flight of Reverend Buckshotte.
Weir then took up a position with the
Commonwealth Film Unit (later renamed
Film Australia), for whom he made several documentaries, including a short documentary about young people living in the underprivileged outer suburbs of Sydney, and the short rock music film
Three Directions In Australian Pop (1970), which featured rare in-concert colour footage of three major Australian rock acts of the period,
Spectrum,
The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band and
Wendy Saddington. He also directed one section of the three-part, three-director feature film
Three To Go (1970), which won an
AFI award.
After leaving the CFU, Weir made his first major independent film, the short feature
Homesdale (1971), a black comedy which co-starred actress
Kate Fitzpatrick and musician and comedian
Grahame Bond, who later became famous as the star of
The Aunty Jack Show; Weir also played a small role, but this was to be his last significant screen appearance.
Homesdale and Weir's two aforementioned CFU shorts have recently been released on DVD.
Weir's first full-length feature film was the underground cult classic,
The Cars That Ate Paris (1974). This paved the way for considerable success in Australia and internationally with the atmospheric
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), based on the novel by
Joan Lindsay. Widely credited as a pivotal work in the so-called Australian film renaissance of the mid-1970s, the film also helped launch the career of internationally renowned Australian cinematographer
Russell Boyd. It was widely acclaimed by critics, many of whom praised it as a welcome antidote to the so-called "ocker film" genre, typified by
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie and
Alvin Purple.
His next feature,
The Last Wave, which starred American actor
Richard Chamberlain, was a pensive, ambivalent film that expanded on the themes of
Picnic, exploring the interaction between the native
Aboriginal and European cultures. It was only moderately successful at the time, but Weir scored a major hit with his next film
Gallipoli (1981). Scripted by renowned Australian
playwright David Williamson, it's regarded as classic
Australian cinema.
Gallipoli was instrumental in making
Mel Gibson into a major international film star, though Gibson's co-star
Mark Lee, who also received high praise for his role, has made only a handful of film appearances since.
The cumulative high point of Peter Weir's early career was the international production
The Year of Living Dangerously which united Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver in a story about loyalty, idealism, love and ambition intertwined with political and humanitarian themes in the Indonesia of 1965. The film brought
Linda Hunt an Oscar for best supporting actress.
Filmmaking in the United States
Weir's first
American film was the highly successful thriller
Witness (1985), which was set in an
Amish community. It was followed by the darker and less accessible
The Mosquito Coast (1986). Both films starred
Harrison Ford and provided him with opportunities to avoid being typecast by his previous roles in the
Star Wars and
Indiana Jones films, and to play more subtle and substantial roles.
Both of Weir's next two films,
Dead Poets Society (1989), starring
Robin Williams, and
Green Card (1990), starring
Gérard Depardieu, were major box-office hits, and they brought Weir significant critical and commercial success; the latter remains a favourite with many
comedy lovers. His next film,
Fearless, starred
Jeff Bridges as a man who believes he's become invincible after surviving a catastrophic air crash. Though well reviewed and featuring a sterling performance by Bridges, its unsettling subject matter and darker tone was less appealing to audiences than his two preceding films.
But Weir bounced back in 1998 with the hugely successful
The Truman Show, a wry satire on the nascent
reality TV trend. It was a box-office smash and won numerous awards and earned three
Oscars nominations -- Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (
Ed Harris), and Best Director for Weir himself. It also gave its star, comedian
Jim Carrey, the chance to prove himself in a serious acting role and he received glowing reviews for his performance.
The Truman Show also includes a small reference back to the very beginning of Weir's directorial career -- Australian actor
Terry Camilleri, who starred in Weir's first feature,
The Cars That Ate Paris, appears in a cameo role.
In 2003 Weir directed , starring
Russell Crowe; it was well received by critics, but only mildly successful with mainstream audiences with its slow pace and focus on period detail and characterization, qualities that are characteristic of Weir's work. Although it won two
Academy Awards, it made a moderate (considering the production values and the star power of Crowe) $93 million at the North American Box Office, while overseas it did better with $114 million.
Themes and celebrity
Although Peter Weir's films are extremely varied in subject and locale, all are linked by Weir's enduring thematic interest, that of exploring the reactions and behaviour of characters who find themselves in isolating or alienating situations.
Often his films will involve a between
macrocosm and microcosm, with the characters often making the difficult choice of choosing to live within the macrocosm. Examples include the phoney television studio town in
The Truman Show and the prep school in
Dead Poets Society and its characters' choices to break free from its confines.
Despite his international success and celebrity, Weir has maintained close connections with his home city and on several occasions he's returned to Green Valley, the suburb where his early CFU documentary was set. There he's been closely involved in programs designed to teach filmmaking skills to disadvantaged young people.
In April 2005 Weir returned to Sydney and reunited with the stars of
Gallipoli to celebrate the film's release on DVD.
Filmography
Feature films
Short films
Three to Go (1971) (segment "Michael")
TV work
Man on a Green Bike (1969)
The Plumber (1978)
Wayside (2005)Further Information
Get more info on 'Peter Weir'.
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