‘Das Boot’ director Wolfgang Petersen dies at 81

Wolfgang Petersen, the German-born director who first wowed Hollywood with his World War II submarine epic “Das Boot,” has died at the age of 81. His assistant told the press on Tuesday that Petersen passed away at his home in California, surrounded by his family, after suffering from pancreatic cancer.

Born in the northwestern German town of Emden in 1941, Petersen moved with his family to Hamburg in 1950 where he studied theater. After moving to Berlin as a young man, Petersen got his first stint in the director’s chair by helming episodes of the long-running German crime series Tatort.

After directing several films in Germany, Petersen garnered international acclaim in 1982 with Das Boot,a anti-war tale of sailors in a German submarine during the Battle of the Atlantic. The film received multiple Academy Award nominations, with Petersen himself being nominated for his directing and his screenplay. 

• 11 films by German director Wolfgang Petersen

  Overwhelming success: ‘Das Boot’

  Wolfgang Petersen’s war epic “Das Boot” was a spectacular movie success in the 1980s — first in Germany, and then in the US. Moviegoers got a strong adrenaline rush through this claustrophobic German submarine mission set in 1941 in the Atlantic Ocean. The film was nominated for six Oscars.

• 11 films by German director Wolfgang Petersen

  Germany’s most popular crime TV series

  Among Wolfgang Petersen’s work for the cult German crime series “Tatort,” one episode from 1977 was so popular that it was later released in theaters as “For Your Love Only.” It not only boosted his career; it was also a springboard for the then 16-year-old actress Nastassja Kinski, who played a student having an affair with her professor. The film still regularly airs on German television.

• 11 films by German director Wolfgang Petersen

  Breaking taboos on homosexuality

  Petersen’s next film, “The Consequence” (1977) had many detractors in Germany. It described a gay couple’s relationship — a taboo topic back then. Scenes were cut out in the TV version and the Bavarian local TV broadcaster refused to show the film at all — but it nevertheless made its way to movie screens, and received different awards.

• 11 films by German director Wolfgang Petersen

  Hollywood in Germany: ‘NeverEnding Story’

  Petersen directed the multi-million dollar epic fantasy film “The NeverEnding Story” in 1984. Based on the novel by German author Michael Ende, this blockbuster was filmed in West Germany. Hollywood was awaiting the ambitious filmmaker.

• 11 films by German director Wolfgang Petersen

  Farewell to Germany: ‘Enemy Mine’

  The 1985 science fiction film “Enemy Mine” was partly shot in Germany, but was mainly Hollywood-financed, and US actors Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr. played the lead roles. For Petersen, it was to be the last film he would shoot in Germany for a long time.

• 11 films by German director Wolfgang Petersen

  ‘In the Line of Fire’ with Clint Eastwood

  The thriller “Shattered” (1991) was actually Petersen’s first US film, but it was the 1993 action film “In the Line of Fire” (1993) that marked the real breakthrough for the German director. The film about an obsessed, ageing former CIA agent (Clint Eastwood) was a box office success.

• 11 films by German director Wolfgang Petersen

  Medical disaster in ‘Outbreak’

  In 1995, movie theaters released Petersen’s “Outbreak,” a captivating medical disaster thriller about the outbreak of a deadly new fictional virus in a small African village that then spreads to California. Starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman and Donald Sutherland, it was a box office success.

• 11 films by German director Wolfgang Petersen

  A truly American film: ‘Air Force One’

  “Air Force One” (1997) was another box office hit. The German director convinced the crowds with a suspenseful action plot involving the kidnapping of the airplane carrying the US president (Harrison Ford) — who defeats the terrorists in the end. The film was criticized in Europe for its heavy US patriotism.

• 11 films by German director Wolfgang Petersen

  In the water again: ‘The Perfect Storm’

  The disaster drama “The Perfect Storm” (2000), based on a non-fiction bestseller by the same name, tells the story of a commercial fishing boat lost at sea. The film featured George Clooney in the role of weather-beaten Captain Billy Tyne.

• 11 films by German director Wolfgang Petersen

  Long and expensive: ‘Troy’

  Production costs for “The Perfect Storm” were high, but they were topped for “Troy,” which had a $175-million budget. Not everyone was convinced by the 162-minute tale of the Trojan War starring Brad Pitt. Three years after the premiere, Petersen created a director’s cut, adding an extra 40 minutes to his lengthy epic.

• 11 films by German director Wolfgang Petersen

  Shipwreck with ‘Poseidon’

  Petersen’s last Hollywood movie, the 2006 disaster film “Poseidon,” was a box office flop. The director finally returned to Germany for his following project, a crime comedy about four urban professionals who plan to rob a bank. “Four Against the Bank” was released in 2016. (This picture gallery has been updated from 2016).

  Author: Jochen Kürten

Commercial success

He followed up “Das Boot” with an English-language adaption of the German young adult novel “The NeverEnding Story,” which was a box office success and widely beloved by its young audience.

Petersen moved permanently to the United States with his wife Maria in 1987, and embarked on numerous successful action movies featuring many of Hollywood’s leading stars, including “Outbreak” with Dustin Hoffmann, “Air Force One” with Harrison Ford and “The Perfect Storm” with George Clooney.

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/das-boot-director-wolfgang-petersen-dies-at-81/a-62829123?maca=en-rss-en-ger-1023-xml-atom