Wolfgang Petersen, blockbuster filmmaker of ‘Das Boot,’ dies after battle with pancreatic most cancers

By Associated Press

NEW YORK: Wolfgang Petersen, the German filmmaker whose World War II submarine epic “Das Boot” propelled him right into a blockbuster Hollywood profession that included the movies “In the Line of Fire,” “Air Force One” and “The Perfect Storm,” has died. He was 81.

Petersen died Friday at his residence within the Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood after a battle with pancreatic most cancers, stated consultant Michelle Bega.

Petersen, born within the north German port metropolis of Emden, made two options earlier than his 1982 breakthrough,

“Das Boot,” then the costliest film in German movie historical past. The 149-minute movie (the unique minimize ran 210 minutes) chronicled the extraordinary claustrophobia of life aboard a doomed German U-boat in the course of the Battle of the Atlantic, with Jürgen Prochnow because the submarine’s commander.

Heralded as an antiwar masterpiece, “Das Boot” was nominated for six Oscars, together with for Petersen’s path and his adaptation of Lothar-Günther Buchheim’s best-selling 1973 novel.

Petersen, born in 1941, recalled as a toddler operating alongside American ships as they threw down meals.

In the confusion of postwar Germany, Petersen — who began out in theater earlier than attending Berlin’s Film and Television Academy within the late Sixties — gravitated towards Hollywood movies with clear clashes of fine and evil. John Ford was a significant affect.

“In school they never talked about the time of Hitler — they just blocked it out of their minds and concentrated on rebuilding Germany,” Petersen advised The Los Angeles Times in 1993. “We kids were looking for more glamorous dreams than rebuilding a destroyed country though, so we were really ready for it when American pop culture came to Germany. We all lived for American movies, and by the time I was 11 I’d decided I wanted to be a filmmaker.”

“Das Boot” launched Petersen as a filmmaker in Hollywood, the place he turned one of many high makers of cataclysmic motion adventures in movies spanning battle (2004’s “Troy,” with Brad Pitt), pandemic (the 1995 ebolavirus-inspired “Outbreak”) and different ocean-set disasters (2000’s “The Perfect Storm” and 2006’s “Poseidon,” a remake of “The Poseidon Adventure,” in regards to the capsizing of an ocean liner).

But Petersen’s first foray in American moviemaking was youngster fantasy: the enchanting 1984 movie “The NeverEnding Story.” Adapted from Michael Ende’s novel, “The NeverEnding Story” was a couple of magical guide that transports its younger reader into the world of Fantasia, the place a darkish drive generally known as the Nothing rampages.

Arguably Petersen’s most interesting Hollywood movie got here nearly a decade later in 1993’s “In the Line of Fire,” starring Clint Eastwood as a Secret Service agent defending the president of the United States from John Malkovich’s murderer. In it, Petersen marshalled his substantial talent in constructing suspense for a extra open-air however simply as taut thriller that careened throughout rooftops and previous Washington D.C. monuments.

Seeking a director for the movie, Eastwood considered Petersen, with whom he had chatted just a few years earlier at a cocktail party given by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Eastwood met with Petersen, checked out his work and gave him the job. “In the Line of Fire” was a significant hit, grossing $177 million worldwide and touchdown three Oscar nominations.

“You sometimes have seven-year cycles. You look at other directors; they don’t have the big successes all the time. Up to ‘NeverEnding Story,’ my career was one success after another,” Petersen advised The Associated Press in 1993. “Then I came into the stormy international scene. I needed time to get a feeling for this work — it’s not Germany anymore.”

Petersen thought of the political thriller — which solid the heroic Eastwood because the drained however devoted defender of a much less honorable president — an indictment of Washington.

“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 advised The Los Angeles Times. “The film is rooted in a profound pessimism about what’s unfortunately happened to this country in the last 30 years. Look around — the corruption is everywhere, and there’s not much to celebrate.”

After “Outbreak,” with Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Morgan Freeman, Petersen returned to the presidency in 1997’s “Air Force One.” Harrison Ford starred as a president pressured right into a battle with terrorists who hijack Air Force One.

“Air Force One,” with $315 million in world field workplace, was a success, too, however Petersen went for one thing even larger in 2000’s “The Perfect Storm,” the true-life story of a Massachusetts fishing boat misplaced at sea.

The solid included George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg however its important attraction was a 100-foot computer-generated wave. With a price range of $120 million, “The Perfect Storm” made $328.7 million.

For Peterson, who grew up on the northern coast of Germany, the ocean lengthy held his fascination.

“The power of water is unbelievable,” Petersen stated in a 2009 interview. “I was always impressed as a kid how strong it is, all the damage the water could do when it just turned within a couple of hours, and smashed against the shore.”

Petersen’s adopted “The Perfect Storm” with “Troy,” a sprawling epic primarily based on Homer’s Iliad that discovered much less favor amongst critics however nonetheless made almost $500 million worldwide. The big-budget “Poseidon,” a high-priced flop for Warner Bros., was Petersen’s final Hollywood movie. His closing movie was 2016’s “Four Against the Bank” a German movie that remade Petersen’s personal 1976 German TV film.

Petersen was first married to German actress Ursula Sieg. When they divorced in 1978, he married Maria-Antoinette Borgel, a German script supervisor and assistant director. He’s survived by Borgel, son Daniel Petersen and two grandchildren.

NEW YORK: Wolfgang Petersen, the German filmmaker whose World War II submarine epic “Das Boot” propelled him right into a blockbuster Hollywood profession that included the movies “In the Line of Fire,” “Air Force One” and “The Perfect Storm,” has died. He was 81.

Petersen died Friday at his residence within the Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood after a battle with pancreatic most cancers, stated consultant Michelle Bega.

Petersen, born within the north German port metropolis of Emden, made two options earlier than his 1982 breakthrough,

“Das Boot,” then the costliest film in German movie historical past. The 149-minute movie (the unique minimize ran 210 minutes) chronicled the extraordinary claustrophobia of life aboard a doomed German U-boat in the course of the Battle of the Atlantic, with Jürgen Prochnow because the submarine’s commander.

Heralded as an antiwar masterpiece, “Das Boot” was nominated for six Oscars, together with for Petersen’s path and his adaptation of Lothar-Günther Buchheim’s best-selling 1973 novel.

Petersen, born in 1941, recalled as a toddler operating alongside American ships as they threw down meals.

In the confusion of postwar Germany, Petersen — who began out in theater earlier than attending Berlin’s Film and Television Academy within the late Sixties — gravitated towards Hollywood movies with clear clashes of fine and evil. John Ford was a significant affect.

“In school they never talked about the time of Hitler — they just blocked it out of their minds and concentrated on rebuilding Germany,” Petersen advised The Los Angeles Times in 1993. “We kids were looking for more glamorous dreams than rebuilding a destroyed country though, so we were really ready for it when American pop culture came to Germany. We all lived for American movies, and by the time I was 11 I’d decided I wanted to be a filmmaker.”

“Das Boot” launched Petersen as a filmmaker in Hollywood, the place he turned one of many high makers of cataclysmic motion adventures in movies spanning battle (2004’s “Troy,” with Brad Pitt), pandemic (the 1995 ebolavirus-inspired “Outbreak”) and different ocean-set disasters (2000’s “The Perfect Storm” and 2006’s “Poseidon,” a remake of “The Poseidon Adventure,” in regards to the capsizing of an ocean liner).

But Petersen’s first foray in American moviemaking was youngster fantasy: the enchanting 1984 movie “The NeverEnding Story.” Adapted from Michael Ende’s novel, “The NeverEnding Story” was a couple of magical guide that transports its younger reader into the world of Fantasia, the place a darkish drive generally known as the Nothing rampages.

Arguably Petersen’s most interesting Hollywood movie got here nearly a decade later in 1993’s “In the Line of Fire,” starring Clint Eastwood as a Secret Service agent defending the president of the United States from John Malkovich’s murderer. In it, Petersen marshalled his substantial talent in constructing suspense for a extra open-air however simply as taut thriller that careened throughout rooftops and previous Washington D.C. monuments.

Seeking a director for the movie, Eastwood considered Petersen, with whom he had chatted just a few years earlier at a cocktail party given by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Eastwood met with Petersen, checked out his work and gave him the job. “In the Line of Fire” was a significant hit, grossing $177 million worldwide and touchdown three Oscar nominations.

“You sometimes have seven-year cycles. You look at other directors; they don’t have the big successes all the time. Up to ‘NeverEnding Story,’ my career was one success after another,” Petersen advised The Associated Press in 1993. “Then I came into the stormy international scene. I needed time to get a feeling for this work — it’s not Germany anymore.”

Petersen thought of the political thriller — which solid the heroic Eastwood because the drained however devoted defender of a much less honorable president — an indictment of Washington.

“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 advised The Los Angeles Times. “The film is rooted in a profound pessimism about what’s unfortunately happened to this country in the last 30 years. Look around — the corruption is everywhere, and there’s not much to celebrate.”

After “Outbreak,” with Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Morgan Freeman, Petersen returned to the presidency in 1997’s “Air Force One.” Harrison Ford starred as a president pressured right into a battle with terrorists who hijack Air Force One.

“Air Force One,” with $315 million in world field workplace, was a success, too, however Petersen went for one thing even larger in 2000’s “The Perfect Storm,” the true-life story of a Massachusetts fishing boat misplaced at sea.

The solid included George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg however its important attraction was a 100-foot computer-generated wave. With a price range of $120 million, “The Perfect Storm” made $328.7 million.

For Peterson, who grew up on the northern coast of Germany, the ocean lengthy held his fascination.

“The power of water is unbelievable,” Petersen stated in a 2009 interview. “I was always impressed as a kid how strong it is, all the damage the water could do when it just turned within a couple of hours, and smashed against the shore.”

Petersen’s adopted “The Perfect Storm” with “Troy,” a sprawling epic primarily based on Homer’s Iliad that discovered much less favor amongst critics however nonetheless made almost $500 million worldwide. The big-budget “Poseidon,” a high-priced flop for Warner Bros., was Petersen’s final Hollywood movie. His closing movie was 2016’s “Four Against the Bank” a German movie that remade Petersen’s personal 1976 German TV film.

Petersen was first married to German actress Ursula Sieg. When they divorced in 1978, he married Maria-Antoinette Borgel, a German script supervisor and assistant director. He’s survived by Borgel, son Daniel Petersen and two grandchildren.