Peter Weir

15 films directed

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 his lifetime achievement career.

Early in his career as a director, Weir was a leading figure in the Australian New Wave cinema movement (1970–1990). Weir made his feature film debut with Homesdale and continued with the mystery drama Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), the supernatural thriller The Last Wave (1977) and the historical drama Gallipoli (1981). Weir gained tremendous success with the multinational production The Year of Living Dangerously (1982).

After the success of The Year of Living Dangerously, Weir directed a diverse group of American and international films covering most genres–many of them major box office hits–including Academy Award-nominated films such as the thriller Witness (1985), the drama Dead Poets Society (1989), the romantic comedy Green Card (1990), the social science fiction comedy-drama The Truman Show (1998) and the epic historical drama Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003). His final feature before his retirement was the well-received The Way Back (2010).

Most directed genres

Recurring actors

The career in numbers

US$ 336 mi Total budget from 13 film(s) with data
US$ 941 mi Total box office from 12 film(s) with data
US$ 26 mi Average budget from 13 film(s) with data
US$ 78 mi Average box office from 12 film(s) with data
6.9 Average rating from 14 film(s) with data
2.8× Return on investment from 12 film(s) with data

Budget and box office do not exist for every film in our records. Averages are computed over the films that carry the figure, and the count beside each one says how many.

Films directed

Film	Year	Budget	Box office	Rating
The Way Back	2010	US$ 30 mi	US$ 24 mi	7.0
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World	2003	US$ 150 mi	US$ 212 mi	7.2
The Truman Show	1998	US$ 60 mi	US$ 264 mi	8.2
Fearless	1993	US$ 20 mi	US$ 7 mi	6.9
Green Card	1990	US$ 13 mi	US$ 30 mi	6.1
Dead Poets Society	1989	US$ 16 mi	US$ 236 mi	8.3
The Mosquito Coast	1986	US$ 25 mi	US$ 14 mi	6.4
Witness	1985	US$ 12 mi	US$ 116 mi	7.1
The Year of Living Dangerously	1982	US$ 6 mi	US$ 13 mi	6.7
Gallipoli	1981	US$ 3 mi	US$ 17 mi	7.0
The Plumber	1979	—	—	6.4
The Last Wave	1977	US$ 825,000	US$ 2 mi	6.7
Picnic at Hanging Rock	1975	US$ 460,000	US$ 5 mi	7.2
The Cars That Ate Paris	1974	US$ 250,000	—	5.6
Homesdale	1971	—	—	5.4