Peter Weir

Director

August 21, 1944 (81 years)

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Biography

Peter Lindsay Weir AM (born August 21, 1944) is a retired Australian film director. He is known for directing films crossing various genres over forty years with films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Gallipoli (1981), Witness (1985), Dead Poets Society (1989), Fearless (1993), The Truman Show (1998), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), and The Way Back (2010). He has received six Academy Award nominations, ultimately being awarded the Academy Honorary Award in 2022 for…

Filmography

8.2

The Truman Show

In a picture-perfect seaside town, an insurance salesman begins to realize that his entire existence may be staged and observed by a vast unseen audience as part of a long-running real-time reality TV show.

8.3

Dead Poets Society

At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.

7.2

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

After an abrupt and violent encounter with a French warship inflicts severe damage upon his ship, a captain of the British Royal Navy begins a chase over two oceans to capture or destroy the enemy, though he must weigh his commitment to duty and ferocious pursuit of glory against the safety of his devoted crew, including the ship's thoughtful surgeon, his best friend.

7.0

The Way Back

A small band of multicultural convicts stages a daring escape from a WWII-era Siberian gulag, and embarks on a treacherous journey across five countries in a desperate race for freedom and survival.

7.1

Witness

While protecting an Amish boy—the sole witness to a brutal murder—and his mother, a detective is forced to seek refuge within their community when his own life comes under threat.

6.4

The Mosquito Coast

An inventor spurns his city life and moves his family into the jungles of Central America to make a utopia.

6.1

Green Card

Urban horticulturalist Brontë Mitchell has her eye on a gorgeous apartment, but the building's board will rent it only to a married couple. Georges Fauré, a waiter from France whose visa is expiring, needs to marry an American woman to stay in the country. Their marriage of convenience turns into a burden when they must live together to allay the suspicions of the immigration service, as the polar opposites grate on each other's nerves.

7.1

Gallipoli

Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

7.2

Picnic at Hanging Rock

In the early 1900s, Miranda attends a girls boarding school in Australia. One Valentine's Day, the school's typically strict headmistress treats the girls to a picnic field trip to an unusual but scenic volcanic formation called Hanging Rock. Despite rules against it, Miranda and several other girls venture off. It's not until the end of the day that the faculty realizes the girls and one of the teachers have disappeared mysteriously.

6.9

Fearless

After surviving a plane crash that kills many others, Max Klein develops a sense of invulnerability, leading to radical, compulsive actions. Can a psychologist and a fellow guilt-ridden survivor bring him down to earth?

6.7

The Year of Living Dangerously

A young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia during the rule of President Sukarno with the help of a diminutive photographer.

5.6

The Cars That Ate Paris

After surviving a car accident, a young man finds himself trapped in the isolated town of Paris, where the local economy depends on deliberately causing crashes and salvaging the wreckage. As he becomes entangled in the town’s routines, tensions between its residents and a rebellious group of youths begin to surface.

6.7

The Last Wave

A Sydney lawyer defends five Aboriginal people in a ritualised taboo murder and in the process learns disturbing truths about himself and premonitions.

7.0

Luke's Kingdom

In 1829, a recently widowed Englishman brings his children to New South Wales to claim land and begin a new life, only to find it already occupied. Forced to settle as squatters, the family faces mounting challenges from colonial authorities, rival settlers, and the harsh conditions of the frontier.

6.4

The Plumber

A young couple, living in a campus apartment complex, are repeatedly harassed by an eccentric plumber, who subjects them to a series of bizarre mind games while making unnecessary repairs to their bathroom.

N/A

Count Vim's Last Exercise

An early short film by Peter Weir, produced between 1967 and 1968 for a Channel Seven staff revue and later screened in underground film programs.

7.5

Three to Go

This anthology film brings together three stories—"Michael", "Judy", and "Toula"—each centered on a young Australian confronting personal and social choices about their future. Produced by the Commonwealth Film Unit, the film explores themes of identity, independence, and cultural tension through distinct perspectives from directors Brian Hannant, Oliver Howes, and Peter Weir.

5.4

Homesdale

At a remote guest house known as Homesdale, a group of visitors find themselves subjected to strange rituals, psychological games, and increasingly cruel entertainments devised by the lodge’s staff. As the weekend unfolds, the tensions and obsessions each guest has brought with them begin to surface.

N/A

Heart, Head & Hand

A short documentary on the work and craft of ceramist and teacher Peter Rushforth. The film presents his countless works and the skills used in his pottery creations and also dwells about the importance and the tradition involved with his creative works.

N/A

Three to Go: Michael

Michael, a young man living within a conventional middle-class environment, begins to question his future as he encounters a group aligned with the countercultural movements of the late 1960s. As he is exposed to new ideas and ways of living, he is forced to reconsider the direction of his life. (Note: This film is one segment of the anthology feature "Three to Go" (1971).)