Peter Weir

Peter Weir is one of today’s most celebrated international filmmakers. He first achieved recognition, as well as an Australian Film Institute award for Best Director, with “Gallipoli” in 1981. Starring newcomer Mel Gibson as one of two friends who go off to fight in World War I, it was hailed by international critics and established Weir's reputation outside of Australia.

His reputation was further enhanced quickly thereafter with “The Year of Living Dangerously,” also staring Gibson, as well as Sigourney Weaver. A romance set against the backdrop of the toppling of Indonesia's Sukarno regime in 1965, it was screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and proved to be Weir's first international commercial success.

Weir made his first excursion onto American soil with “Witness,” starring Harrison Ford, which documented a culture clash viewed from the eyes of a wounded Philadelphia cop recovering from his injuries in a Pennsylvania Amish community. The film was a worldwide success, earning Weir and Ford their first Academy® Award nominations.

Following the Harrison Ford and River Phoenix starring “Mosquito Coast,” Weir directed the breakout hit “Dead Poets Society,” which garnered him his second Oscar nomination for Best Director, as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, and, a French César for Best Foreign Film. Weir subsequently went on to direct his own screenplay and independent production of “Green Card,” the romantic comedy starring Gérard Depardieu and Andie MacDowell, which won the Golden Globe Award for Best Comedy, as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

After directing “Fearless,” starring Jeff Bridges, Weir helmed the blockbuster hit “The Truman Show.” Starring Jim Carrey as a man trapped in a TV show about his own artificially constructed life, the film was a surreal, darkly humorous take on contemporary society's obsession with the media and celebrity. It was embraced by both critics and audiences worldwide, earning Weir his third Best Director Oscar nomination, as well as a host of other honors.

Weir took five years to follow up “The Truman Show” with the Napoleonic-era naval epic, “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” in 2003. It was greeted with stellar reviews and 10 Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture, and, yet another Best Director nod for Weir.

Point Blank Productions