Wolfgang Petersen (14 March 1941 – 12 August 2022) was a German film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was nominated for two
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for the World War II
submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
warfare film ''
Das Boot
''Das Boot'' (, English: "The Boat") is a 1981 West German war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, and Klaus Wennemann. It has been exhibited both as ...
'' (1981). His other films include ''
The NeverEnding Story
''The Neverending Story'' (german: Die unendliche Geschichte) is a fantasy novel by German writer Michael Ende, published in 1979. The first English translation, by Ralph Manheim, was published in 1983. The novel was later adapted into several f ...
'' (1984), ''
Enemy Mine'' (1985), ''
In the Line of Fire
''In the Line of Fire'' is a 1993 American political action thriller film directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich and Rene Russo. Written by Jeff Maguire, the film is about a disillusioned and obsessed former C ...
'' (1993), ''
Outbreak
In epidemiology, an outbreak is a sudden increase in occurrences of a disease when cases are in excess of normal expectancy for the location or season. It may affect a small and localized group or impact upon thousands of people across an entire ...
'' (1995), ''
Air Force One
Air Force One is the official air traffic control designated call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. In common parlance, the term is used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modified and used ...
'' (1997), ''
The Perfect Storm'' (2000), ''
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...
'' (2004), and ''
Poseidon
Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ch ...
'' (2006).
Early life
Petersen was born on 14 March 1941 in
Emden
Emden () is an independent city and seaport in Lower Saxony in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia and, in 2011, had a total population of 51,528.
History
The exact founding date of E ...
,
the son of a naval officer.
From 1953 to 1960, Petersen attended the
Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums
The ''Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums'' ( ''Academic School of the Johanneum'', short: Johanneum) is a Gymnasium (or Grammar School ) in Hamburg, Germany. It is Hamburg's oldest school and was founded in 1529 by Johannes Bugenhagen. The school's f ...
in Hamburg.
He made his first films with an
8 mm camera while still at school.
In the 1960s he was directing plays at Hamburg's
Ernst Deutsch Theater.
After studying theater in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
and Hamburg, Petersen attended the
Film and Television Academy in Berlin (1966–1970).
Career
Petersen's first productions were for German television, and it was during his work on the popular German ''
Tatort
''Tatort'' ("Crime scene") is a German language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with some 30 feature-length episodes per year, which makes it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed by ...
'' (''Crime Scene'') TV series that he first met and worked with the actor
Jürgen Prochnow
Jürgen Prochnow ( ; born 10 June 1941) is a German-American actor. His international breakthrough was his portrayal of the good-hearted and sympathetic U-boat Captain "Der Alte" ("Old Man") in the 1981 war film ''Das Boot''.
He is also known f ...
— who would later appear as the
U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...
captain in Petersen's famous ''Das Boot''. The most famous of his ''Tatort'' episodes is ''
Reifezeugnis
''Reifezeugnis'' is a 1977 German television film directed by Wolfgang Petersen and part of the '' Tatort'' television series. The film starred Nastassja Kinski in her first major role in a feature-length film, it was her breakthrough role that m ...
'' (Maturity Certificate) from 1977 with the young
Nastassja Kinski
Nastassja Aglaia Kinski (; , ; born 24 January 1961) is a German actress and former model who has appeared in more than 60 films in Europe and the United States. Her worldwide breakthrough was with ''Stay as You Are'' (1978). She then came to gl ...
.
He shot 6 ''Tatort'' episodes.
Petersen made his first theatrical feature film in 1974, the
psychological thriller
Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting.
In terms of context and co ...
''
One or the Other of Us
''One or the Other of Us'' () is a 1974 West German film directed by Wolfgang Petersen. It was Petersen's first theatrical feature film, and was based on the novel of the same name by Horst Bosetzky, published anonymously under his pseudonym -ky. ...
'', 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
''Die Konsequenz'' (''The Consequence'') is a 1977 West German made for television film directed by Wolfgang Petersen. The screenplay is an adaptation of the 1975 autobiographical novel of the same name by Alexander Ziegler. The film premiered ...
'', 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
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
n network
Bayerischer Rundfunk
Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR; "Bavarian Broadcasting") is a public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD consortium of public broadcas ...
turned off the transmitters rather than broadcast it.
His next feature was the
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
epic ''
Das Boot
''Das Boot'' (, English: "The Boat") is a 1981 West German war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, and Klaus Wennemann. It has been exhibited both as ...
'', released in early 1982.
The film chronicles the experiences of a German submarine crew engaged in the "
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
".
Though not an immediate financial success, the film received highly positive reviews and was nominated for six
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
, two of which (for
Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to:
Film awards
* AACTA Award for Best Direction
* Academy Award for Best Director
* BA ...
and
Best Adapted Screenplay) went to Petersen;
he was also nominated for a
BAFTA Award
The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cer ...
and
DGA Award
The Directors Guild of America Awards are issued annually by the Directors Guild of America. The first DGA Award was an "Honorary Life Member" award issued in 1938 to D. W. Griffith. The statues are made by New York firm, Society Awards.
Categ ...
.
The film starred
Jürgen Prochnow
Jürgen Prochnow ( ; born 10 June 1941) is a German-American actor. His international breakthrough was his portrayal of the good-hearted and sympathetic U-boat Captain "Der Alte" ("Old Man") in the 1981 war film ''Das Boot''.
He is also known f ...
as the U-boat Captain,
who became a good example of Petersen's action characters, a man at war who confronts danger and fate at sea.
After ''
The NeverEnding Story
''The Neverending Story'' (german: Die unendliche Geschichte) is a fantasy novel by German writer Michael Ende, published in 1979. The first English translation, by Ralph Manheim, was published in 1983. The novel was later adapted into several f ...
'' (1984),
Petersen's first English-language film, he directed ''
Enemy Mine'' (1985),
which was not a critical or box office success. He hit his stride in 1993 with the assassination thriller ''
In the Line of Fire
''In the Line of Fire'' is a 1993 American political action thriller film directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich and Rene Russo. Written by Jeff Maguire, the film is about a disillusioned and obsessed former C ...
''.
Starring
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...
as an angst-ridden presidential
Secret Service
A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...
guard,
''In the Line of Fire'' gave Petersen the box office clout he needed to direct another suspense thriller, ''
Outbreak
In epidemiology, an outbreak is a sudden increase in occurrences of a disease when cases are in excess of normal expectancy for the location or season. It may affect a small and localized group or impact upon thousands of people across an entire ...
'' (1995), starring
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is th ...
.
The 1997 Petersen blockbuster ''
Air Force One
Air Force One is the official air traffic control designated call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. In common parlance, the term is used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modified and used ...
'' 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
Michael Ballhaus, A.S.C. (5 August 1935 – 12 April 2017) was a German cinematographer who collaborated with directors such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Martin Scorsese, Mike Nichols and James L. Brooks. He was a member of both the Academy of ...
,
who has also worked frequently with director
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...
.
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 to direct the first movie in the
''Harry Potter'' film series, ''
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' is a 1997 fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. The first novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series and Rowling's debut novel, it follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers hi ...
''. Petersen pulled out of the running in March 2000.
In the 2000s, Petersen continued to direct two summer blockbusters, the films ''
The Perfect Storm'' (2000) and ''
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...
'' (2004). The success of the former helped his Radiant Productions company to sign a deal with
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
Petersen's $160 million
epic film
Epic films are a style of filmmaking with large-scale, sweeping scope, and spectacle. The usage of the term has shifted over time, sometimes designating a film genre and at other times simply synonymous with big-budget filmmaking. Like epics in ...
''
Poseidon
Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ch ...
'', a re-telling of the 1969
Paul Gallico
Paul William Gallico (July 26, 1897 – July 15, 1976) was an American novelist and short story and sports writer.Ivins, Molly,, ''The New York Times'', July 17, 1976. Retrieved Oct. 25, 2020. Many of his works were adapted for motion pictu ...
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 U.S., barely exceeding $60 million in domestic box office receipts by early August, but international sales surpassed $121 million.
Although hired to direct
the film adaptation of ''
Ender's Game
''Ender's Game'' is a 1985 military science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card. Set at an unspecified date in Earth's future, the novel presents an imperiled humankind after two conflicts with an insectoid alien species they dub ...
'' by
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both ...
that was scheduled for release in 2008, he later "moved on"
from the project. His potential projects included a live-action adaptation of the 2006 anime film ''
Paprika
Paprika ( US , ; UK , ) is a spice made from dried and ground red peppers. It is traditionally made from ''Capsicum annuum'' varietals in the Longum group, which also includes chili peppers, but the peppers used for paprika tend to be milder an ...
''
and a film adaptation of the science fiction novel ''
Old Man's War
''Old Man's War'' is a military science fiction novel by American writer John Scalzi, published in 2005. His debut novel was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2006.
''Old Man's War'' is the first novel in Scalzi's ''Old Man's ...
''.
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
''Das Boot'' (, English: "The Boat") is a 1981 West German war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, and Klaus Wennemann. It has been exhibited both as ...
'' in 1981.
Personal life
Petersen's first marriage was with actress ;
they had a son.
In 1978, he married his assistant Maria Borgel.
Petersen moved to Los Angeles in 1986
and subsequently
acquired American citizenship.
Death
Petersen died of
pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...
on 12 August 2022, at the age of 81, at his home in
Brentwood, Los Angeles, California
Brentwood is a suburban neighborhood in the Westside region of Los Angeles.
History
General
Modern development began after the establishment of the Pacific Branch of the National Home for Disabled Soldiers and Sailors in the 1880s. A sma ...
, United States.
Filmography
Source:
Short films
Feature films
Television
TV movies
TV series
Critical reception
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petersen, Wolfgang
1941 births
2022 deaths
People from Emden
People from the Province of Hanover
Mass media people from Lower Saxony
German Film Award winners
German film directors
German television directors
German film producers
German expatriates in the United States
People educated at the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums
Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Deaths from cancer in California
Deaths from pancreatic cancer