Peter Lindsay Weir AM (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. is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the metropolitan area in Australia. ... NSW redirects here. ... BAFTA Award The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), is a British organisation that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, childrens film and television, and interactive media. ... Winners of the BAFTA Award for Best Direction presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. ... The Truman Show is a 1998 science fiction comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol. ... Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a 2003 film directed by Peter Weir and starring Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey, with Paul Bettany as Stephen Maturin. ... This page lists the winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards. ... Dead Poets Society is an Academy Award-winning 1989 film, directed by Peter Weir. ... The César Award is the national film award of France first given out in 1975. ... César Award for Best Foreign Film: 1976: Scent of a Woman (Italy), directed by Dino Risi 1977: We All Loved Each Other So Much (Italy), directed by Ettore Scola 1978: A Special Day (Italy), directed by Ettore Scola 1979: The Tree with the Wooden Clogs (Italy), directed by Ermanno... Dead Poets Society is an Academy Award-winning 1989 film, directed by Peter Weir. ... Insignia of a Companion of the Order of Australia. ... is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Director Herbert Brenon with actress Alla Nazimova on the set of War Brides, 1916 A director is a person who directs the making of a film. ... This is about the city of Sydney in Australia. ... For other schools with a similar name see Scots College. ... This article is about the philosophical concept of Art. ... For other uses, see Law (disambiguation). ... The University of Sydney (colloquially Sydney Uni) is the oldest university in Australia. ... Phillip Noyce on the set of Rabbit-Proof Fence with the films star, Everlyn Sampi. ...

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. This article is about the metropolitan area in Australia. ... ATN-7 is the Sydney flagship television station of the Seven Network in Australia. ... The Mavis Bramston Show was a popular satirical sketch comedy TV series broadcast on Australian television. ...

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. Film Australia is a company established by the Government of Australia to produce films about Australia. ... For the British band of the same name, see Peter Kember Spectrum was an Australian progressive rock band which formed in Melbourne in 1969 and remained in existence until 1973. ... Arguably the most entertaining and best-loved Australian band of the early 1970s was The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band. ... The Australian Film Institute (AFI), established in 1958, is an organisation that promotes Australian film and television through the annual AFI Awards, a membership program and AFI film events throughout the year. ...

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. Kate Fitzpatrick is an Australian television actress, who has appeared on such television series as Something in the Air, Scooter: Secret Agent, All Saints, Boney and Birds in the Bush. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This article needs to be wikified. ...

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. The Cars That Ate Paris is a 1975 Australian film. ... Picnic at Hanging Rock is a 1975 Australian mystery film , and adaptation of the novel of the same name. ... Joan Lindsay (born Joan aBeckett Weigall) (November 16, 1896 - December 23, 1984) was an Australian author. ... Russell Boyd (April 21, 1944 in Victoria, Australia) is an Australian cinematographer. ... The Adventures of Barry McKenzie is a 1972 Australian film starring Barry Crocker, telling the story of an Australian yobbo on his travels to the United Kingdom. ... Alvin Purple was a 1973 Australian comedy film starring Graeme Blundell, written by Alan Hopgood and directed by Tim Burstall. ...

His next feature, The Last Wave (1977), 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 is 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 Last Wave is a 1977 Australian film directed by Peter Weir about a man who experiences premonitions of disaster. ... Richard Chamberlain, right, as John Blackthorne, and John Rhys-Davies, left, as the Portuguese Pilot Vasco Rodrigues in the Shogun television miniseries. ... Australian Aborigines are the main indigenous people of Australia. ... Gallipoli is a 1981 Australian film, directed by Peter Weir and starring Mel Gibson, about several young men from rural Western Australia who enlist in the Australian Imperial Force during the First World War. ... A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. ... For the magician, see David Williamson (magician). ... Ned Kelly depicted in the first ever feature-length narrative film The cinema of Australia has a long history and has produced many internationally-recognized films, actors and filmmakers. ... Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson, AO (born January 3, 1956) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American-Australian actor, director, producer and screenwriter. ... This article needs to be wikified. ...

The climax of Peter Weir's early career was the $6 million international production The Year of Living Dangerously (1982) which united Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver in a story about journalistic loyalty, idealism, love and ambition in Sukarno's Indonesia of 1965. The film also brought Linda Hunt (who played a man in the film) an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. The Year of Living Dangerously is a novel by Christopher Koch, which was made into a film in 1982, directed by Peter Weir and written by Koch, Weir, and David Williamson. ... Sigourney Weaver (born Susan Alexandra Weaver on October 8, 1949 in New York City) is an Oscar-nominated American actress. ... Sukarno (June 6, 1901 – June 21, 1970) was the first President of Indonesia. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

On 14 June 1982, Weir was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for his service to the film industry.^[1] is the 165th day of the year (166th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ...

Filmmaking in the United States

Weir's first American film was the successful thriller Witness (1985), which was partly set in an Amish community. Witness also gave Weir his first Oscar nomination as Best Director, and was his first of several films to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. It was followed by the darker, less commercial The Mosquito Coast (1986), an adaptation of Paul Theroux's novel set in Central America. Both films starred Harrison Ford and were seen as providing the star with opportunities to avoid being typecast by his work in the Star Wars and Indiana Jones series, and to play more subtle and substantial roles. Ford was nominated for an Oscar for his work in Witness, the only Academy Awards recognition in his career. American cinema has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. ... Witness is a 1985 movie released by Paramount Pictures, starring Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, and Lukas Haas. ... This article is about Old Order Amish, but also refers to other Amish sects. ... Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... The Academy Award for Directing is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; the awards are voted on by other people within the industry. ... ©A.M.P.A.S.® The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to artists working in the motion picture industry. ... The Mosquito Coast is a 1986 film, directed by Peter Weir and starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren. ... Paul Edward Theroux (born April 10, 1941) is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best known work is The Great Railway Bazaar (1975), a travelogue about a trip he made by train from Great Britain through Europe and South Asia, then South-East Asia, up through East Asia, as... For other uses, see Central America (disambiguation). ... For the silent film actor, see Harrison Ford (silent film actor). ... This article is about the series. ... This article is about the fictional character. ...

Weir's next film, Dead Poets Society (1989), again received credit for expanding the acting range of its Hollywood star. Robin Williams, at the time known for lowbrow comedies, played an inspirational teacher in a dramatic story about conformity at a New England prep school in the 1950s. The film, nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director for Weir, also helped launch the acting careers of Ethan Hawke and Robert Sean Leonard. It became a major hit and is possibly Weir's most well known film to mainstream audiences. Dead Poets Society is an Academy Award-winning 1989 film, directed by Peter Weir. ... This article is about the American actor and comedian; for other people named Robin Williams, see Robin Williams (disambiguation). ... A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school (usually abbreviated to preparatory school, college prep school, or prep school) is a private secondary school designed to prepare a student for higher education. ... Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor, writer and film director. ... Robert Sean Leonard (born Robert Lawrence Leonard on February 28, 1969, in Ridgewood, New Jersey) is a Tony Award-winning American actor who is most noted for his role as aspiring actor Neil Perry in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society. ...

The romantic comedy Green Card (1990) was another casting risk. Weir cast the French icon Gérard Depardieu in his first English-language role, along with American actress Andie MacDowell. Green Card was a box-office hit but regarded as much less of a critical success, though it helped Depardieu's path to international fame, and Weir received an Oscar nomination for his original screenplay. Weir's next film, Fearless (1993), starred Jeff Bridges as a man who believes he has become invincible after surviving a catastrophic air crash. Though well reviewed, particularly the performances of Bridges and Rosie Perez (who received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress), its unsettling subject matter was less appealing to large audiences than Weir's two preceding films. Green Card is a film directed by Peter Weir in 1990. ... Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu, CQ (born 27 December 1948,  ) is an Academy Award-nominated French actor. ... Andie MacDowell (born April 21, 1958) is an American screen actress. ... Fearless is a 1993 film directed by Peter Weir and written by Rafael Yglesias from his novel of the same name. ... Jeffrey Leon Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. ... Rosa Maria Perez (born September 6, 1964) is an Academy Award-nominated American actress, dancer, choreographer and director. ... Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. ...

After five years, Weir returned to direct The Truman Show (1998), a bittersweet satire of the media's control of life, later noted to have predated the reality TV trend begun by Survivor. The Truman Show was both a box office and a critical smash, receiving glowing reviews and numerous awards, including three Academy Awards nominations, for Best Original Screenplay (by Andrew Niccol), Best Supporting Actor (Ed Harris), and Best Director for Weir himself. In addition, Weir was again noted to have given his star, comedian Jim Carrey, the chance to prove himself in a serious acting role. The Truman Show also included a reference back to the very beginning of Weir's directorial career: Australian actor Terry Camilleri, who starred in his first feature, The Cars That Ate Paris, appears in a cameo role. The Truman Show is a 1998 science fiction comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol. ... 1867 edition of Punch, a ground-breaking British magazine of popular humour, including a good deal of satire of the contemporary social and political scene. ... Reality television is a genre of television programming in which the fortunes of real life people (as opposed to fictional characters played by actors) are followed. ... This article is about general format of the international television show. ... Andrew M. Niccol (born 1964) is a screenwriter, producer, and director. ... For other persons of the same name, see Edward Harris. ... James Eugene Carrey (born January 17, 1962) is a two-time Golden Globe Award-winning Canadian-American A-list film actor and comedian. ... Terry Camilleri is an Australian actor, born in Malta in 1949. ...

In 2003 Weir directed Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, starring Russell Crowe. A screen adaptation of Patrick O'Brian's blockbuster adventure series set during the Napoleonic Wars, it was well received by critics, but only mildly successful with mainstream audiences. This was perhaps due to a slow pace and focus on period detail and characterization, qualities that are characteristic of much of Weir's work, though this is his only film set before the 20th century. Despite winning two Oscars (for frequent collaborator Russell Boyd's cinematography, and for sound effects editing) and another Best Picture nomination, it made a moderate $93 million at the North American Box Office, considering the production values and the star power of Crowe. Overseas it did better, with $114 million. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a 2003 film directed by Peter Weir and starring Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey, with Paul Bettany as Stephen Maturin. ... Russell Ira Crowe (born April 7, 1964) is a New Zealand-Australian[1] actor. ... Patrick OBrian (12 December 1914 – 2 January 2000; born as Richard Patrick Russ) was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centered on the friendship of Captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish... Combatants Austria[a] Portugal Prussia[a] Russia[b] Sicily[c] Sardinia  Spain[d]  Sweden[e] United Kingdom French Empire Holland[f] Italy Etruria[g] Naples[h] Duchy of Warsaw[i] Confederation of the Rhine[j] Bavaria Saxony Westphalia Württemberg Denmark-Norway[k] Commanders Archduke Charles Prince Schwarzenberg Karl Mack... Russell Boyd (April 21, 1944 in Victoria, Australia) is an Australian cinematographer. ...

Unfinished projects and current work

In 1993 Weir spoke about making The Playmaker, a film based on a Thomas Keneally book, focusing on the theatre profession in Australia at the turn of the 20th century,^[2] but this did not see production. In the 1990s, Weir was considered as a director for the film adaptation of Toni Morrison's novel Beloved, but he was ruled out in favor of Jonathan Demme at an early stage, allegedly due to conflicts over the casting of star/producer Oprah Winfrey.^[3] Thomas Michael Keneally AO (born October 7, 1935) also Tom Keneally, is an Australian novelist. ... For the Louisiana politician, see deLesseps Morrison, Jr. ... Beloved has several meanings: Beloved is a best-selling historical romance about Zenobia written by Bertrice Small, written in 1983. ... Jonathan Demme (born February 22, 1944, in Baldwin, New York) is an American film director, producer and writer. ... Oprah Winfrey, (born January 29, 1954) is a multiple-Emmy Award winning host of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the highest rated talk show in television history. ...

In the mid-2000s, according to The Internet Movie Database, Weir was attached as director of several other projects. He was to direct a film adaptation of William Gibson's 2003 novel Pattern Recognition, which has not reached the casting stage (but remains listed as in preproduction). He was also attached to a film adaptation of Gregory David Roberts' book Shantaram, starring Johnny Depp; this film is now being made by Mira Nair. Weir's involvement in a possible sequel to Master and Commander was also considered likely.^[4] He was also to direct another film entitled, War Magician. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about actors, films, television shows, television stars, video games and production crew personnel. ... For other persons named William Gibson, see William Gibson (disambiguation). ... Pattern recognition is a field within the area of machine learning. ... Gregory David Roberts (born Gregory John Peter Smith June 1952), is a convicted armed robber, former heroin addict, gangster, arms smuggler and author of the bestselling book Shantaram. ... Shantaram may refer to any of the following: V. Shantaram, filmmaker Shantaram (novel), a novel written by Gregory David Roberts Shantaram (film), a film in development, based on the novel Categories: ... John Christopher Depp II[1] (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor, best known for his frequent portrayals of offbeat and eccentric characters such as Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and the titular character of Tim Burtons Edward Scissorhands. ... Mira Nair (born October 15, 1957 at Rourkela, Orissa) is an India-born, New York-based film director. ...

Weir's confirmed next project is Shadow Divers. Shadow Divers is a non-fictional recounting of the discovery of a World War 2 German U-Boat sixty miles off the coast of New Jersey in 1991. ...

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 juxtaposition 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. Macrocosm and microcosm is an ancient Greek schema of seeing the same patterns reproduced in all levels of reality. ... The Truman Show is a 1998 science fiction comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol. ... Dead Poets Society is an Academy Award-winning 1989 film, directed by Peter Weir. ...

Despite his international success and celebrity, Weir has maintained close connections with his home city and on several occasions he has returned to Green Valley, the suburb where his early CFU documentary was set. There he has 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.

Themes such as; forbidden love, clash between two cultures, violence versus pacifism and conformity versus non-conformity, are portrayed with the use of many techniques.

Filmography

Feature films

• Homesdale (1971)
• The Cars That Ate Paris (aka The Cars That Eat People) (1974)
• Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
• The Last Wave (1977)
• Gallipoli (1981)
• The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
• Witness (1985)
• The Mosquito Coast (1986)
• Dead Poets Society (1989)
• Green Card (1990)
• Fearless (1993)
• The Truman Show (1998)
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
• Shadow Divers (2009)

The Cars That Ate Paris is a 1975 Australian film. ... Picnic at Hanging Rock is a 1975 Australian mystery film , and adaptation of the novel of the same name. ... The Last Wave is a 1977 Australian film directed by Peter Weir about a man who experiences premonitions of disaster. ... Gallipoli is a 1981 Australian film, directed by Peter Weir and starring Mel Gibson, about several young men from rural Western Australia who enlist in the Australian Imperial Force during the First World War. ... The Year of Living Dangerously is a novel by Christopher Koch, which was made into a film in 1982, directed by Peter Weir and written by Koch, Weir, and David Williamson. ... Witness is a 1985 movie released by Paramount Pictures, starring Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, and Lukas Haas. ... The Mosquito Coast is a 1986 film, directed by Peter Weir and starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren. ... Dead Poets Society is an Academy Award-winning 1989 film, directed by Peter Weir. ... Green Card is a film directed by Peter Weir in 1990. ... Fearless is a 1993 film directed by Peter Weir and written by Rafael Yglesias from his novel of the same name. ... The Truman Show is a 1998 science fiction comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol. ... Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a 2003 film directed by Peter Weir and starring Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey, with Paul Bettany as Stephen Maturin. ... Shadow Divers is a non-fictional recounting of the discovery of a World War 2 German U-Boat sixty miles off the coast of New Jersey in 1991. ...

Short films

• Three to Go (1971) (segment "Michael")

TV work

• Man on a Green Bike (1969)
• The Plumber (1978)
• Wayside (2005)

Wayside is a Canadian and American co-produced animated television series airing on Teletoon in Canada and Nickelodeon in the United States, based on the Sideways Stories From Wayside School book series by Louis Sachar. ...

References

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Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ...

External links

• Peter Weir at the Internet Movie Database
• Peter Weir Cave (unofficial Peter Weir site)
• Photo of Peter Weir at the 76th Annual Academy Awards
• Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
• Peter Weir at the National Film and Sound Archive