Happy 76th Birthday, Peter Weir! Born today in 1944 as Peter Lindsay Weir, this Australian film director was a leading figure in the Australian New Wave cinema movement.
Weir attended The Scots College and Vaucluse Boys' High School before studying arts and law at the University of Sydney.
His interest in film was sparked by his meeting with fellow students, including Australian director, producer and screenwriter of film and television Phillip Noyce ('Rabbit-Proof Fence').
After leaving university in the mid-1960s, Weir joined Sydney television station ATN-7. It was here that he worked as a production assistant.
This was for the groundbreaking weekly Australian television satirical sketch comedy revue program The Mavis Bramston Show (1964–1968). During this period, using station facilities, Weir made his first two experimental short films:
Afterwards, Weir co-wrote and co-directed one section of the three-part, three-director portmanteau 1971 Australian drama feature film 'Three To Go' (also known as '3 To Go'). It later won an Australian Film Institute (AFI) award.
Weir later took up a position with the Commonwealth Film Unit (later renamed Film Australia), for which he made several documentaries, including a short documentary about an underprivileged outer Sydney suburb.
Weir's first full-length feature was the low-budget 1974 Australian horror black comedy film 'The Cars That Ate Paris'.
It told about the inhabitants of a small country town who deliberately cause fatal car crashes and live off the proceeds.
Upon release, the film was a minor success in cinemas but proved very popular on the then-thriving drive-in circuit.
The following year, Weir directed the first film of which he is best known. This was the 1975 Australian mystery/drama film 'Picnic at Hanging Rock'.
Set in 1900, Miranda (Anne Lambert) attends a girl’s boarding school in Australia.
One St. Valentine's Day, the school's typically strict headmistress Mrs. Appleyard (Rachel Roberts) 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, Miss McCraw (Vivean Gray) have disappeared mysteriously.
The film had been adapted from Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and visual artist Joan Lindsay's titular 1967 historical mystery fiction novel.
She was deliberately ambiguous about whether the events had really taken place, although the story is entirely fictitious.
'Picnic at Hanging Rock' was a commercial and critical success, and helped draw international attention to the then-emerging Australian New Wave of cinema.
Two years later, Weir co-wrote and directed the second film of which he is best known. This was the 1977 Australian thriller/mystery drama film 'The Last Wave'.
In Sydney, business lawyer David Burton (Richard Chamberlain) is given the pro bono assignment of defending five aborigines accused of the murder of another tribesman.
However, none of Burton's clients are willing to speak about what happened, even in their own defense, and the medical examiner on the case can't figure out how the victim died.
But what's most troubling Burton is the increasingly terrifying apocalyptic visions he's having, leading him to think Australia may soon be destroyed.
Four years later, Weir conceived and directed the third and final film of which he is best known. This was the 1981 Australian war/drama film 'Gallipoli'.
The film follows Archy Hamilton (Mark Lee) and Frank Dunne (Mel Gibson), two young Australian sprinters who want to join the Australian army during World War I to fulfill their sense of duty.
Turned down because they are too young, the pair hop a freight train to Perth, where they are allowed to join up.
Upon arriving, they board a troop ship headed to Cairo and, after training in the shadows of the Great Pyramids, the boys are finally sent to the front line.
It is here where their speed makes them candidates for messengers in one of the war's bloodiest battles. This took place during Battle of the Nek on the Gallipoli Peninsula; a narrow stretch of ridge located in the Ottoman Empire.
Recurring themes of these films include the Australian identity, such as mateship and larrikinism, the loss of innocence in war, and the continued coming of age of the Australian nation and its soldier (later called the ANZAC spirit).
The iconic final frame of the film freezes on Hamilton being hit by bullets across his chest, head back, as if breaking the tape at the finish of a 100-yard sprint, and falling backwards.
The still shot by Australian cinematographer Russell Boyd was inspired by a famous photograph taken by Hungarian-American war photographer and photojournalist Robert Capa during the Spanish Civil War.
One year later, on June 14, 1982, Weir was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his service to the film industry.
Since 2003, Weir's productivity has declined, having directed only one subsequent feature, the critically acclaimed box-office flop. This was the 2010 American drama/survival film 'The Way Back'.
Among his credits, Weir is also known for directing 'The Year of Living Dangerously' (1982), 'Witness' (1985), 'The Mosquito Coast' (1986), 'Dead Poet's Society' (1989), 'The Truman Show' (1998), and 'Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World' (2003).
On AFI's 100 Years... 100 Quotes list, "Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary." ranked in at #95.
According to Weir's personal life, he currently resides in Sydney with his wife, Australian production designer Wendy Stites. She has worked on all of her husband's films.
Their daughter Ingrid Weir, like her mother, is currently a production designer and costume designer. She is credited as Grace Burton, the daughter of David Burton in 'The Last Wave'.
Weir is known for intelligent emotional dramas that frequently explore the relationship between characters and their social environment. He contributed to a renaissance in Australian filmmaking and directed a string of acclaimed Hollywood features.
He is also known for making moody, complex dramas that often focus on the emotional struggles of men caught up in social change and/or upheaval. He is regarded as one of the most solid directors in both his native country and in Hollywood.
Weir's many accomplishments include making vehicles have promoted a handful of stars into the realm of "serious" acting, something that further established Weir as one of the foremost interpreters of the inner lives of men.
Weir has been active from 1967–present.
#borntodirect
@AACTAawards
@ADGdirectors
@AussieHonours
@AmericanFilmInstitue
@Criterion
@tcm
@RogerEbert
@theguardian
@mercurynews
@GoldDerby
@Britannica
No comments:
Post a Comment