Interviews With Peter Weir

There are now a grand total of 28 articles / interviews centering on Peter Weir or his films. Special thanks go out to the fellow at the "DPS Archives in Italy" (for supplying all articles marked with *) as well as "Grizzly" (yes, there are bears in this cave!) who helped with scanning some of the text in. If anyone knows of any other articles out there, please

NOTE: I am in the midst of revamping this page, so things may look a little disjointed at the moment.

The Man Behind Truman by Jenny Peters 2000 words An interview with Peter Weir shortly after the release of The Truman Show. He touches on such varied topics as television, Lady Diana, and product placement.	More to Digest than Popcorn by Dan Lybarger 1000 words "I like a film and like to make films in which, at least emotionally, you are joining in and completing the picture with me."	A Weir'd Experience by Rob Blackwelder length: 1800 words An interview with Weir before the release of The Truman Show. He discusses some of the influences on the film, the back history he wrote for the film, and how he would prefer drawing crowds to winning awards.

A Well Rounded Interview by T. W. Siebert 2500 words From May, 1998. A very interesting interview as Peter Weir talks about The Prisoner, final cut, test screenings, and working in America.	CBC Infoculture by Cynthia MacDonald 3 minutes, 40 seconds A Real Audio sound clip of Peter Weir discussing product placement, working with comedic actors, casting Linda Hunt in YOLD, capturing souls in Fearless, the magic of close-ups	Keeping a Sense of Wonder by Michael Bliss 4500 words Peter Weir talks about his early influences, some of the ideas that went into the making of The Truman Show, as well as the re-release of Picnic at Hanging Rock.

Love, Fear and Peter Weir Virginia Campbell 4100 words A Movieline magazine article from September 1993. Peter Weir talks about searching for "broken" scripts, how he first approaching Mel Gibson for the film, the concept of photographing souls, as well as tidbits regarding other Weir films.	American Cinematographer by Bob Fisher 3800 words A fairly technical article on the cinematography for Fearless, including a discussion with Allen Daviau.	Notes from the Press Kit 3200 words Notes about the production of Fearless, including numerous quotes from director Weir, actor Jeff Bridges, producer Paula Weinstein, writer Rafael Yglesias, and others.

French Connection by Kitty Bowe Hearty 2700 words Premiere magazine article from February 1991. A behind the scenes article on the making of the film, focusing on some of the on-set hijinks as well as a brief rundown of Gerard Depardieu's career.

Poetry Man by Nancy Griffin 3300 words Premiere magazine article from July 1989. A behind the scenes article on the making of the film, featuring Robin Williams' ad-libs during a dinner scene, a brief rundown of Peter Weir's career, budgets problems, and Weir's boom box.

The Iceman Cometh	Digby Diehl	The Mosquito Coast	2200	Weir is dressed for the jungle in safari jacket and T-shirt and takes an obvious delight in his romantic surroundings.
Ford Takes On a New Role	William Wolf	The Mosquito Coast	800	Harrison Ford is on the line in a much more ambitious and risky role than the action parts that brought him fame and fortune.
Harrison Ford on Harrison Ford	Kirk Honeycutt	The Mosquito Coast	1200	What Ford admires most about Weir's films is the craftsmanship. "He's extremely hard on himself, but he always ends up with high quality."
Ford Wants to Be Alone	Kenneth Turan	The Mosquito Coast	4600	"When we started Witness, I asked Peter what Harrison was like," reports director of photography John Seale. "And he said, 'If he didn't have an accent, he'd be an Australian.'"
Still the Same After All These Years	Virginia Campbell	Mosquito Coast / Witness	600	" I have the capacity for the kind of indignation and ire that Allie Fox showed at the injustice and wrongness of the world-I don't pin it on the Japanese or whoever else Allie used as excuses for his own failure but..."

Ford Takes Off His Fedora...	Jeff Silverman	Witness	2200	""The material represented a unique opportunity, I had not seen this movie before. Eighty-five percent of the scripts I read I know where they came from."

Mel Gibson	John Hanrahan	YOLD	2300	Two-thirds of the way through the filming in Manila a series of death threats forced the crew and cast to quit and return to Sydney.

Literature/Film Quarterly^*		Gallipoli	1300	"By approaching the subject obliquely, I think we had come as close to touching the source of the myth as we could. I think there's a Chinese proverb - it's not the arriving at one's destination but the journey that matters."

Movietone News^*	Judith M. Kass	The Last Wave	4000	"I remember a quote of Bruce Springsteen's in Rolling Stone. He said, 'I like to give my audiences something money can't buy.' So I'd like them to walk out with much more than the $4.00 or whatever it cost."

Picnic Under Capricorn^*	Jan Dawson	Picnic at Hanging Rock	1200	Weir freely admits that he's always been more interested in atmosphere than character, and insists that he works from instinct rather than `premeditation'.

Under Weir	Pat McGilligan	early career	6800	"I think of myself as a storyteller, and I would have chosen another medium if films hadn't been available, presumably writing."
Conversations with Five Directors^*	Sue Matthews	entire early career	16000	Inspiration is central to Peter Weir's filmmaking: his approach is intuitive rather than cerebral. It is almost a point of honour with him.
Weir'd Tales	Kyla Ward	overview of films	4100	"Australia was of no interest to me. None. I couldn't wait to leave, and I left at twenty. In a way I never came home. Came back married, and went on with my own life"
Dialogue on Film^*		assorted	2100	"I think a sense of wonder is really what I attempt to create. Now how you do it is really stone by stone, step by step."
Cinema Papers^*		assorted	2300	"When I started in film I tried everything - a bit of acting, writing, directing. But after a while I felt I had more talent beside the camera than in front of it."
Peter Weir: Towards the Centre	Tom Ryan / Peter McFarlaine	career up to Gallipoli	6000	"It’s very important for me to be constantly asking myself, in the scripting process or during the shoot, what the audience will understand from this or that, and what it will expect as a consequence."
newspaper clippings		The Thornbirds	400	Film director Peter Weir is back in Australia after confounding Hollywood by refusing to direct a version of "The Thorn Birds" because he didn't like the script.

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