Wolfgang Petersen was 42 years old when he landed his first blockbuster with "Das Boot". Almost 40 years and many movies later, the director with East Frisian roots is not thinking about retiring. Now the film world is mourning the German Hollywood champion.
"Das Boot", "Outbreak", "Air Force One", "Der Sturm", "Troy" - Wolfgang Petersen's film legacy is impressive. Stars like Clint Eastwood, Dustin Hoffman, Harrison Ford, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Rene Russo and Glenn Close worked with the German Hollywood director. The film world is now mourning the loss of an artist who had just as much success in his home country as in his adopted home of California - and who was enthusiastic about new projects well into old age. Petersen died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 81. He died peacefully on Friday surrounded by his family at his home in Brentwood, California. His wife Maria was by his side.
His death came as a surprise to the film world. Petersen was creatively active until the end. Shortly before his 80th birthday, the native East Frisian joked that he wanted to "sail over it very easily" over this round anniversary. "Then it won't be such a big hammer blow when you're suddenly so old," he said in an interview last year. He spoke enthusiastically about a handful of new film and television projects. He studiously ignores retirement, probably even at the age of 100, the director joked at the time. He didn't want to take stock. He's not the type to live in the past, Petersen said. "For me, I'm still looking forward. I rarely look at films that I've made. But "Das Boot" was clearly the big turning point in my life and in my career."
The cinema epic about the crew of a German submarine in World War II, with Jürgen Prochnow and Herbert Grönemeyer, paved the way for Petersen to Hollywood. "Six Oscar nominations for a German film, that was a great thing," he looked back on 1983 almost modestly. These were the most entitlements that a German film had ever received from the Oscar Academy. Petersen, then in his early 40s, was nominated for directing and adapted screenplay, as well as camera work, editing, sound and sound editing. In the end, "Gandhi", directed by British director Richard Attenborough, was the big Oscar winner. "Das Boot" was empty-handed, but it was the starting signal for a great Hollywood career.
Petersen landed another box office hit with the fantasy fairy tale "The Neverending Story", followed by the science fiction film "Enemy Mine", all shot at Bavaria Film near Munich. In 2019, the studio christened a large production hall in Petersen's name as a thank you. At that time he had long been a Californian by choice. In 1987 Petersen had settled in Los Angeles with his wife Maria.
The political thriller "In the Line of Fire" starring Clint Eastwood as a Secret Service agent was a huge box office hit in 1993. It went on in quick succession: "Outbreak" with Dustin Hoffman, "Air Force One" with Harrison Ford, "The Tempest" with George Clooney, "Troy" with Brad Pitt. The director, who was born in Emden and grew up in Hamburg, had a flair for young talent, many of whom became world stars. In 1977 he brought Nastassja Kinski in front of the camera for the "Tatort" thriller "Reifezeugnis" and made the young actress famous overnight. Diane Kruger ("Out of Nowhere") was still unknown when Petersen gave her the role of the beautiful Helena in 2004 in the historical epic "Troy" alongside Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom. The studio was keen to cast a star, but they were looking for a new, "innocent" face, Petersen said. He then discovered Kruger among thousands of casting videos.
Petersen became a taboo breaker in 1977 with the movie "The Consequence", which was about a man's love. Jürgen Prochnow played a homosexual in it - the topic was reason enough for the Bavarian radio to hide itself from the program.
Petersen's success story only got a damper in 2006 with the film "Poseidon". The disaster thriller, which cost around 160 million dollars, flopped worldwide. It was a shock, the director admitted. "I had to take some time off and think about a lot of things."
Petersen returned to his homeland in 2016 for a remake of his old television comedy "Four Against the Bank" from the 1970s. The crook film was prominently cast with Til Schweiger, Matthias Schweighöfer, Jan Josef Liefers and Michael "Bully" Herbig. In 2021, in the middle of the Corona pandemic, Petersen was planning another directing project in Germany - a love story about a KGB agent and a young East German, based on a true story, shortly before the Wall was built. But that shouldn't happen anymore. The pandemic had forced the director to take a longer break. At the age of 80 he lamented about it and hoped to return to everyday work soon. "You have to go out again. For me, life has always been a journey through the world, with new people and teams."
