Wolfgang Petersen

NEW YORK (AP) — Wolfgang Petersen, the German filmmaker whose World War II submarine epic “Das Boot” propelled him into a blockbuster Hollywood career that ...

“The power of water is unbelievable,” Petersen said in a 2009 interview. With a budget of $120 million, “The Perfect Storm” made $328.7 million. “Air Force One,” with $315 million in global box office, was a hit, too, but Petersen went for something even bigger in 2000's “The Perfect Storm,” the true-life tale of a Massachusetts fishing boat lost at sea. The big-budget “Poseidon," a high-priced flop for Warner Bros., was Petersen's last Hollywood film. After “Outbreak,” with Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Morgan Freeman, Petersen returned to the presidency in 1997's “Air Force One." “The film is rooted in a profound pessimism about what’s unfortunately happened to this country in the last 30 years. Arguably Petersen’s finest Hollywood film came almost a decade later in 1993’s “In the Line of Fire,” starring Clint Eastwood as a Secret Service agent protecting the president of the United States from John Malkovich’s assassin. "When John’s character says, ‘Nothing they told me was true and there’s nothing left worth fighting for,’ I think his words will resonate for many people,” Petersen told The Los Angeles Times. Petersen, born in the north German port city of Emden, made two features before his 1982 breakthrough, “Das Boot," then the most expensive movie in German film history. Eastwood met with Petersen, checked out his work and gave him the job. Seeking a director for the film, Eastwood thought of Petersen, with whom he had chatted a few years earlier at a dinner party given by Arnold Schwarzenegger. In it, Petersen marshalled his substantial skill in building suspense for a more open-air but just as taut thriller that careened across rooftops and past Washington D.C.

Wolfgang Petersen, who rode his acclaimed German-language film Das Boot into a career directing Hollywood blockbusters such as In the Line of Fire, ...

While working on the popular German TV series Tatort (Crime Scene), he first met and worked with actor Jurgen Prochnow — who would appear in several of his films, including as the U-boat captain in Das Boot. The film was considered so radical at the time that when it first aired on German television, the Bavarian network refused to broadcast it. (Adjusted for inflation, Air Force One was the director's most successful film.) "It's my greatest experience after Das Boot," Petersen told Variety ahead of the movie's release. Petersen was perhaps best known for 1981's Das Boot, the harrowing story of life aboard a German U-boat during the Second World War. However successful Petersen was in appealing to children, he quickly graduated to films geared toward adults.

The German-born filmmaker was also known for making big-budget blockbusters including "Air Force One" and "The Perfect Storm."

Petersen directed “Poseidon” (2006), a big-budget remake of the 1972 disaster film “The Poseidon Adventure,” which was savaged by critics. Petersen insisted on unswerving accuracy to re-create the look and feel of a submarine, evoking what he described as “the smell of reality, the blood, the sweat and the tears, the claustrophobia.” His later work included “The Consequence” (1977), a melodrama about the sexual relationship between an incarcerated young man and the prison warden’s teenage son, which generated controversy in Germany for its sensitive, forthright depiction of gay love. Wolfgang Petersen was born in Emden, Germany, a port city near the North Sea, on March 14, 1941, and grew up in an era of postwar deprivation. He later directed Clooney and Mark Wahlberg in “The Perfect Storm” (2000), based on Sebastian Junger’s nonfiction account of a Massachusetts fishing vessel lost at sea. Petersen a chance to return to a maritime setting without having to reenter the narrow tube of a submarine. He seemed especially comfortable working from historical material and journalistic research, adapting Richard Preston’s nonfiction book “The Hot Zone” into “Outbreak” (1995), a medical thriller about the spread of an Ebola-like virus. Petersen later transported viewers to the world of Homer’s “Iliad,” directing the big-budget war film “Troy” (2004) with Pitt. All 200 people on the stage had a wonderful time watching it, with the exception of the six actors on the boat.” Petersen was vaulted to international prominence by “Das Boot,” or “The Boat” (1981), a harrowing antiwar film that brought audiences inside a cramped, sweaty German submarine during World War II. By the time the film ended 2½ hours later, he told the New Jersey Record, “the audience was in tears, in shock, and totally turned around by the message: ‘OK, I know these guys were the other side, but if you cut through to the bottom, what war is all about, is kids on all sides getting killed.’ ” Wolfgang Petersen, a German filmmaker whose 1981 drama “Das Boot” earned global acclaim for its humane depiction of U-boat sailors during World War II, and who later had a long Hollywood career directing action-driven blockbusters including “Air Force One,” “The Perfect Storm” and “Troy,” died Aug.

Wolfgang Petersen rode his acclaimed German-language film “Das Boot” into a career directing blockbusters such as “In the Line of Fire” and “Air Force One."

While working on the popular German TV series “Tatort” (Crime Scene), he first met and worked with actor Jurgen Prochnow — who would appear in several of his films, including as the U-boat captain in “Das Boot.” The original told the story of “four members of an exclusive country club who decide to rob a bank to solve their money problems.” The new film starred Til Schweiger. In “Air Force One” (1997), it was not the Secret Service agents protecting the president who kicked ass but the president himself. Adjusted for inflation, “Air Force One” was the director’s most successful film. Petersen made an extraordinary creative leap with the critically acclaimed Clint Eastwood film “In the Line of Fire” (1993). His next effort was “Enemy Mine,” about an astronaut (Dennis Quaid) who crash-lands on an alien planet and teams with a lizard-like alien (Louis Gossett Jr.) from the species he was battling in order to survive the harsh environment. With both critical acclaim — the film sports a 95% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes — and impressive B.O., Petersen had finally arrived in Hollywood. Petersen’s first film in Hollywood was the 1984 fantasy adventure “The NeverEnding Story,” which he directed and co-scripted. Variety said: “Director Wolfgang Petersen sends the story efficiently down its straight and narrow track, deftly engineering the battle of wills between two desperately committed men.” He returned in 1991 with the mystery thriller “Shattered,” starring Tom Berenger, Bob Hoskins and Greta Scacchi. He discovers the kingdom in a magical bookstore, and as he begins to read the adventure between the covers, it becomes so real that the people in the story know about Bastian. Offering suspense and tragedy, “Das Boot” was nominated for six Oscars — an enormous number for a foreign film — including two for Petersen, for director and adapted screenplay.

Il avait notamment connu le succès en 1983 grâce à son film Das Boot qui avait été nommé à deux reprises aux Oscars.

En 1985, sort Enemy (Enemy Mine), un film de science-fiction avec Dennis Quaid sur le même modèle scénaristique que Duel dans le Pacifique de John Boorman. Entre-temps, il s'essaie au péplum avec Troie (2004), mettant en vedette le jeune Brad Pitt. Suivront En pleine tempête (2000), avec George Clooney et Mark Wahlberg, où le cinéaste allemand renoue avec sa passion pour l'océan en furie. Et Poseidon (2006), remake de facture classique de L'Aventure du Poséidon, de Ronald Neame. Alors considéré comme le « film plus cher de l'histoire du cinéma allemand », Das Boot raconte les pérégrinations d'un sous-marin allemand et de son équipage pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. À présent, je vis à Brentwood, près de Santa Monica, et j'admire le Pacifique de ma fenêtre.

Après avoir percé à Hollywood grâce à son film « Le Bateau » au début des années 1980, le réalisateur allemand a dirigé des stars mondiales telles que Clint ...

« Même si le scénario était palpitant et incroyablement intense, je me souviens de beaucoup de rires, surtout lors des scènes autour de l’immense table dans la “War Room” », a-t-elle déclaré. La mer a longtemps exercé une forte fascination sur le réalisateur, qui a grandi sur la côte nord de l’Allemagne. Wolfgang Petersen, né en 1941 dans la ville portuaire d’Emden, au nord de l’Allemagne, a réalisé deux longs-métrages avant sa percée en 1982 avec Le Bateau (Das Boot), alors le plus cher de l’histoire du cinéma allemand.

Oscar nominee Wolfgang Petersen directed 1984's 'The NeverEnding Story,' plus action films like 'Das Boot' and 'In the Line of Fire'

ACTING... NO acting... acting... "That was a concept that was very difficult to get through the studio system because it was very expensive. And the story— I mean six guys on the Andrea Gail boat, who, at the end, as we all know, die," he said. Can you at least have one, like Mark Wahlberg, survive at the end?' But we did it." And they all die at the end? "I was on a roll at that time. Five in a row," he said at the time. It was the biggest storm ever shown. ... I haven't told anybody that before." In the Line of Fire, Outbreak, Air Force One, Perfect Storm, Troy — I did all these films in a row, and each one was more successful than the one before.

Le réalisateur allemand Wolfgang Petersen est décédé d'un cancer du pancréas à 81 ans.

Il a ensuite réalisé des films d'action et des films catastrophes, notamment «Dans la ligne de mire», avec Clint Eastwood et John Malkovich, et «Alerte», qui relate la lutte des autorités américaines contre un virus très virulent, avec Dustin Hoffman. Celui qui avait connu le succès en 1983 avec deux nominations aux Oscars pour «Das Boot», thriller dont l'intrigue prend place à bord d'un sous-marin pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, est mort à son domicile de Los Angeles dans les bras de son épouse, a indiqué un porte-parole. Wolfgang Petersen, réalisateur de «Troie» et «L'Histoire sans fin» est mort à 81 ans

“The Das Boot bloke dies” — there's a good chance that this will be the gist of many a Wolfgang Petersen obituary. It's understandable.

It was pancreatic cancer that would cause the credits to role on the life of Wolfgang Petersen. “It’s almost impossible to explain just how challenging it must have been for him to come out here after he made his masterpiece [Das Boot] and deal with the politics and the bullshit and the egos involved in big-time ’90s Hollywood action cinema. Pandemic drama Outbreak (1995), president-in-peril picture Air Force One (1997) and trouble at sea epic The Perfect Storm (2000) led studio executive Barry Isaacson to explain, “He was the perfect studio director of his era; technically proficient, a natural storyteller, able to accommodate the big stars and the big money without compromising his vision.” It’s really hard to explain just how big a deal Das Boot was in the 1980s. Indeed, three years would pass before he was again hired by a film studio, this time to make The Consequence, a controversial picture about a prison guard’s son, played by Ernst Hannawald, who falls in love with an inmate, again played by Prochnow. “The Das Boot bloke dies” — there’s a good chance that this will be the gist of many a Wolfgang Petersen obituary.

Wolfgang Petersen, réalisateur de L'Histoire sans fin, Troie, En pleine tempête ou encore Le Bateau, est mort à 81 ans. Pour certains, il restera le ...

A noter que Wolfgang Petersen avait emmené dans sa valise le directeur de la photographie Jost Vacano, qui a collaboré avec lui sur Le Bateau et L'Histoire sans fin. Depuis Poséidon en 2006, Wolfgang Petersen n'avait réalisé qu'un film : Braquage à l'allemande, en 2016. Dans En pleine tempête, il orchestre un pur film catastrophe dans la grande tradition du genre, où George Clooney et Mark Wahlberg redonnent vie à la terrible histoire vraie d'une catastrophe maritime. Il replonge pour Poséidon, remake du film culte L'Aventure du Poséidon, où Kurt Russell mène un groupe de survivants dans un paquebot retourné par une vague. Pour d'autres, ce sera le (grand) faiseur hollywoodien d' [Air Force One](https://www.ecranlarge.com/films/841058-air-force-one), [Troie](https://www.ecranlarge.com/films/838097-troie), [En pleine tempête](https://www.ecranlarge.com/films/840340-en-pleine-tempete), [Poséidon](https://www.ecranlarge.com/films/839452-poseidon) et [Alerte](https://www.ecranlarge.com/films/842075-alerte). En 1993, c'est Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich et Rene Russo dans Dans la ligne de mire. Petersen a récupéré la bête, et a co-écrit le scénario avec l'écrivain. En 1985, c'est Dennis Quaid dans Enemy. Parce que Jost Vacano a ensuite suivi un autre réalisateur européen qui a dynamité Hollywood : Paul Verhoeven, sur RoboCop, Total Recall, Showgirls, Starship Troopers et Hollow Man. L'Histoire sans fin a conquis à peu près tout le monde. Encore un film culte, mais cette fois très populaire et familial. En 1977, son deuxième film, La Conséquence (Die Konsequenz), est censuré car jugé trop dangereux lors de sa diffusion télévisée – normal, c'est une adaptation d'Alexander Ziegler qui raconte une histoire d'amour gay.

Après les succès de « Das Boot » et de « L'Histoire sans fin », il a rejoint les Etats-Unis, où il a réalisé thrillers, films catastrophe et péplums, ...

Il y côtoie Holger Meins, le futur dirigeant de la Rote Armee Fraktion (Fraction armée rouge), avec qui il coréalise un court-métrage. Né sur les rivages de la mer du Nord, au temps où la Kriegsmarine y régnait sans partage, le cinéaste allemand Wolfgang Petersen, dont l’œuvre la plus marquante reste Das Boot, chronique de la guerre sous-marine que se livrèrent le IIIe Reich et les Alliés, est mort le vendredi 12 août tout près du Pacifique, à Brentwood (Californie), des suites d’un cancer du pancréas, il avait 81 ans. C’est alors que Wolfgang Petersen s’attelle au projet de Das Boot.

Wolfgang Peterson ("Das Boot"), who directed Brad Pitt ("Troy"), George Clooney ("Perfect Storm") and Harrison Ford ("Air Force One"), is dead at 81.

ACTING ... NO acting ... acting ... Though critically maligned, it became one of the highest-grossing films of 2004, with a worldwide box office of nearly $500 million. "He was protective and kind toward me and I will cherish my memories of him forever." "That line is like Schwarzenegger's 'I'll be back' line in 'Terminator.' It didn't look like much on the page," says Marlowe. "I worked my (butt) off for that role." Wolfgang was so good at understanding those emotional moments and the understated heroic personality." As Pitt told USA TODAY this year. With a budget of nearly $185 million, "Troy" was one of the most expensive movies produced at the time. "Wolfgang was one of the first directors to take a chance on me," Kruger said in a statement to USA TODAY. Petersen went on to direct Clint Eastwood as a Secret Service agent in the 1993 thriller "In the Line of Fire" and Dustin Hoffman in the 1995 global pandemic virus thriller "Outbreak."