Farewell to Peter Weir: The best moments of ‘The Truman Show’ and ‘Witness in Danger’

The hope that the great Peter Weir (Witness in danger, The Truman Show, The society of poets of death) The live broadcast was rejected by the Australian director himself. He was very specific in his words: “I’m retired,” Weir said when asked about his 14-year hiatus from filmmaking. “Why did I leave the cinema? Because I simply don’t have any energy left.”.

It was during his appearance at the Cinémathèque Festival in Paris. Director of The year we lived in danger he hasn’t released a film since Way to freedomfrom 2010, with Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan and Colin Farrell.

He was nominated for 6 Oscars, without luck, 4 times as best director (for Witness in danger, The society of poets of death, The Truman Show AND Sea and war captain). At last year’s ceremony he was awarded an honorary Oscar with the caption that he is “A courageous and accomplished filmmaker who has illuminated the human experience with his unique and expansive work.”

Born on August 21, 1944 in Sydney, his first film to attract attention was Picnic on the hanging rocks (1975), followed by The Last Wave (1977), with Richard Chamberlain, but the big blow came with Gallipoli (1981), starring Mel Gibson as one of two Australian sprinters sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey during the First World War.

From then on all his films had major actors.

Let’s review, then, the films of this great director, a craftsman who knew how to juggle arthouse cinema and great entertainment.

The Year We Lived in Danger (1982)

In 1965, during the fall of the Indonesian government, which is experiencing a political crisis, an Australian journalist (Mel Gibson) is sent to cover the events. And in the midst of the turbulent scene of the communist uprising against President Sukarno, he meets Billy Kwan (Linda Hunt), an enigmatic photographer, and falls in love with Jill Bryant (Sigourney Weaver), who works at the British embassy.

Linda Hunt won the Oscar for best supporting actress, the first time a woman won an Oscar for playing a cisgender man, after the film competed for the Palme d’Or at Cannes.

Witness in Danger (1985)

It would be the first Oscar nomination for him, as best director, and the only one that Harrison Ford, the actor who played Indiana Jones, had.

When an Amish boy (Lukas Haas) is the only witness to a bathroom murder, police officer John Book teams up with his immediate community to protect him until his trial. He has one genius: the famous bathroom scene, in which, to generate more tension when Samuel is hiding from a corrupt police officer (Danny Glover), he knocks on more bathroom doors than there are.

With Kelly McGillis (a year later she will be Tom Cruise’s partner in top Gun) and Alexander Godunov. The film had 8 nominations, including Best Film, and won two: Maurice Jarre’s music and editing.

The Mosquito Coast (1986)

He reunites with Harrison Ford in what would be the first financial setback of his career. And that was the adaptation of Paul Theroux’s book, by Paul Schrader, screenwriter of Taxi driver.

Allie Fox is an entrepreneur fed up with the American lifestyle, who doesn’t understand why his invention (an ice machine) isn’t successful. He convinces his family to move to a Central American village in the middle of the jungle, near the Mosquito Coast.

With River Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix’s brother, as his son, and a young Helen Mirren as his wife.

The Dead Poets’ Moment (1989)

Nominated with Robin Williams as a boys’ school teacher, who, among other teachings, abandoned carpe diem (seize the day) and scoffed when a student made a joke that God had called him on the phone and teacher John Keating He countered that God must have had the calling taken up. Four Oscar nominations, for best film, director and leading actor, winning best original screenplay.

Marriage of Convenience (1990)

It was a romantic comedy starring Gérard Depardieu and Andie MacDowell, which Weir himself wrote with Depardieu in mind for his entry into the American market.

Frenchman Georges Fauré is offered a job in the United States, but he needs a green card (the Green Card of the original title), and the quickest way to get one is to marry an American citizen. And what a coincidence, Brönte Parrish insists on renting an apartment, but it is only available to a married couple.

Without Fear of Life (1993)

Misunderstood by the public, mistreated by critics, it was her second financial failure. Jeff Bridges was Max Klein, a man who experienced dramatic feelings after surviving a plane crash.

The Truman Show (1998)

Perhaps one of his best films. Truman (Jim Carrey) doesn’t know he’s living inside a reality show. The sky is painted, he can’t leave his neighborhood and complications begin when he senses something is wrong. Great performance by Laura Linney as his partner, Ed Harris (the director of the show) and Noah Emmerich. It was nominated for 3 Oscars (best director, supporting actor for Harris and original screenplay), but won nothing.

Sea Captain and War (2003)

His last great film. During the Napoleonic Wars the frigate Surprise was ordered to follow the French privateer Acheron, much larger and equipped with 44 guns, to the coasts of Brazil. When the French ship attacks the Surprise, leaving it extremely damaged, its English captain, Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe), decides to chase the Acheron around Cape Horn and sail to the Galapagos Islands. He had 11 Oscar nominations, between film and direction, and won two statuettes, for best cinematography and sound editing.

The star of The society of poets of death, Ethan Hawke, who was a teenager when he made the film with Robin Williams, gave his opinion on Weir’s break from filmmaking. Hawke speculated that Weir had become disillusioned with the craft of directing after budgets began to skyrocket, and had been “forced” to work with high-profile actors who demanded more of him.

“I think he’s lost interest in movies,” Hawke said of Weir. “He really enjoyed that job when he didn’t have actors giving him a hard time. Russell Crowe and Johnny Depp tore it up. He is such a rare person today, a popular artist. He makes mainstream films that are artistic. Have the budget to do it The Truman Show OR Sea and war captain you need a Jim Carrey or a Russell Crowe. I think Harrison Ford and Gerard Depardieu were his type of actors. They were friendly with the directors and didn’t consider themselves important.”