Wolfgang Petersen

Wolfgang Petersen (born 14 March 1941) is a German film director, producer and screenwriter. He was nominated for two Academy Awards for the World War II submarine warfare film Das Boot (1981). His other films include The NeverEnding Story (1984), Enemy Mine (1985), In the Line of Fire (1993), Outbreak (1995), Air Force One (1997), The Perfect Storm (2000), Troy (2004), and Poseidon (2006).

Wolfgang Petersen
Petersen in 2006
Born	(1941-03-14) 14 March 1941 Emden, Germany
Nationality	German
Occupation	Film director producer screenwriter
Years active	1965–present
Spouse(s)	Ursula Sieg (m. 1970; div. 1978) Maria Borgel-Petersen ​ ( m. after 1978)

Early life

Petersen was born on 14 March 1941 in Emden, Germany.[1] From 1953 to 1960, Petersen attended the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums in Hamburg. In the 1960s he was directing plays at Hamburg's Ernst Deutsch Theater. After studying theater in Berlin and Hamburg, Petersen attended the Film and Television Academy in Berlin (1966–1970). His first film productions were for German television, and it was during his work on the popular German Tatort (Crime Scene) TV series that he first met and worked with the actor Jürgen Prochnow — who would later appear as the U-boat captain in Petersen's famous Das Boot.

Career

From left to right: Stanley O'Toole, Dennis Quaid and Petersen in 1984

Petersen made his first theatrical feature film in 1974, the psychological thriller One or the Other of Us, based on the novel Einer von uns beiden by Horst Bosetzky and published anonymously under his pseudonym and starring Jürgen Prochnow. He next directed the 1977 film Die Konsequenz, a black/white adaptation of Alexander Ziegler's autobiographical novel of homosexual love. In its time, the film was considered so radical that when first broadcast in Germany, the Bavarian network turned off the transmitters rather than broadcast it.

His next feature was the World War II epic Das Boot, released in early 1982. The film chronicles the experiences of a German submarine crew engaged in the "Battle of the Atlantic". Though not an immediate financial success, the film received highly positive reviews and was nominated for six Academy Awards, two of which (for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay) went to Petersen; he was also nominated for a BAFTA Award and DGA Award. The film starred Jürgen Prochnow as the U-boat Captain, who became a good example of Petersen's action characters, a man at war and who dares danger and fate at sea.

After The NeverEnding Story (1984), Petersen's first English-language film, he directed Enemy Mine (1985), which was not a critical nor box office success. He hit his stride in 1993 with the assassination thriller In the Line of Fire. Starring Clint Eastwood as an angst-ridden presidential Secret Service guard, In the Line of Fire gave Petersen the box office clout he needed to direct another suspense thriller, Outbreak (1995), starring Dustin Hoffman. The 1997 Petersen blockbuster Air Force One did very well at the box office, with generally positive critical reviews from movie critics. For both Air Force One and Outbreak, Petersen teamed up with the German cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, who has also worked frequently with director Martin Scorsese.

By 1998, Petersen was an established Hollywood director, with the power to both re-release his classic Das Boot in a new director's cut and to helm star-studded action-thrillers. As such, he was originally considered for the first movie in the Harry Potter film series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Petersen pulled out of the running in March 2000.[2]

In the 2000s, Petersen continued to direct two summer blockbusters, the films The Perfect Storm (2000) and Troy (2004).

Petersen's $160 million epic film Poseidon, a re-telling of the 1969 Paul Gallico novel The Poseidon Adventure (previously adapted for the 1972 disaster film), was released by Warner Bros. in May 2006. The film performed poorly in the US, barely cracking $60 million in domestic box office receipts by early August, although international sales surpassed $121 million.

Although hired to direct the film adaptation of Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card that was scheduled for release in 2008, he later "moved on"[3] from the project. His potential projects include a live-action adaptation of the 2006 anime film Paprika[4] and a film adaptation of the science fiction novel Old Man's War.[5]

After a ten-year-hiatus, Petersen returned in 2016 as director of the heist comedy Vier gegen die Bank, his first German-language film since Das Boot in 1981.[6]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1968	Die rote Fahne	Yes			Short film
1969	Ich nicht	Yes	Yes		Short film
1969	Der Eine, der Andere	Yes	Yes		Short film
1971	Ich werde dich töten, Wolf	Yes	Yes
1974	One or the Other of Us	Yes
1981	Das Boot	Yes	Yes
1984	The NeverEnding Story	Yes	Yes
1985	Enemy Mine	Yes
1991	Shattered	Yes	Yes	Yes
1993	In the Line of Fire	Yes
1995	Outbreak	Yes		Yes
1997	Air Force One	Yes		Yes
2000	The Perfect Storm	Yes
2004	Troy	Yes		Yes
2006	Poseidon	Yes		Yes
2016	Vier gegen die Bank	Yes		Yes

Television

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Executive producer	Notes
1965	Stadt auf Stelzen	Yes			Television film
1971-1977	Tatort	Yes	Yes
1972	Anna und Totò	Yes			Television film
1973	Smog	Yes			Television film
1973	Van der Valk und die Reichen	Yes			Television film
1974	Aufs Kreuz gelegt	Yes			Television film
1975	Die Stadt im Tal	Yes			Television film
1975	Stellenweise Glatteis	Yes			Television film
1976	Hans im Glück	Yes			Television film
1976	Vier gegen die Bank	Yes			Television film
1977	Planübung	Yes	Yes		Television film
1977	Die Konsequenz	Yes	Yes		Television film
1978	Schwarz und weiß wie Tage und Nächte	Yes			Television film
2001-2003	The Agency			Yes

Critical reception

Year	Film	Rotten Tomatoes
1981	Das Boot	98%[7]
1984	The NeverEnding Story	80%[8]
1985	Enemy Mine	61%[9]
1991	Shattered	31%[10]
1993	In the Line of Fire	96%[11]
1995	Outbreak	59%[12]
1997	Air Force One	76%[13]
2000	The Perfect Storm	47%[14]
2004	Troy	54%[15]
2006	Poseidon	33%[16]

References

1. Bock, ans-Michael; Bergfelder, im (2009). The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema. Berghahn Books. p. 359. ISBN 978-0-85745-565-9. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
2. Linder, Brian (7 March 2000). "Two Potential "Harry Potter" Director's Back Out". IGN. Archived from the original on 2 March 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2007.
3. io9 website article (4/18/08), accessed June 20, 2008
4. "Wolfgang Peterson Talks About His Live-Action Adaptation of Paprika". /Film.
5. Old Man's War on IMDb
6. Vier gegen die Bank on IMDb
7. "Das Boot (1981) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
8. "The NeverEnding Story (1984) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
9. "Enemy Mine (1985) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
10. "Shattered (1991) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
11. "In the Line of Fire (1993) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
12. "Outbreak (1995) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
13. "Air Force One (1997) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
14. "The Perfect Storm (2000) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
15. "Troy (2004) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
16. "Poseidon (2006) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 25, 2020.

External links

• Wolfgang Petersen on IMDb