Peter Weir Confirms He’s Retired from Directing: ‘I Have No More Energy’

Christian Zilko
·2 min read

Peter Weir has directed some of the most acclaimed blockbusters of the last half century, often straddling the line between art and commerce with studio hits like “The Truman Show” and “Dead Poets Society.” But while the Australian director has not made a movie since the 2010 drama “The Way Back,” fans have held out hope that Weir might find his way back into the director’s chair — perhaps on the “Master and Commander” sequel that Russell Crowe has openly lobbied to make. But it now appears that Weir has officially walked away from filmmaking for good.

Appearing at the Festival de la Cinémathèque in Paris (via Télérama), Weir gave a blunt update on his filmmaking career that should squash any hopes that the 79-year-old director has another movie in him.

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“I am retired,” Weir said when asked about his 14 year hiatus from filmmaking. “Why did I stop cinema? Because, quite simply, I have no more energy.”

Weir’s “Dead Poets Society” star Ethan Hawke offered his thoughts on Weir’s break from filmmaking in a 2022 interview with IndieWire. Hawke speculated that Weir became disillusioned with the art of directing after his films’ increasing budgets forced him to work with higher-profile actors who made more demands of him.

“I think he lost interest in movies,” Hawke said of Weir. “He really enjoyed that work when he didn’t have actors giving him a hard time. Russell Crowe and Johnny Depp broke him. He’s someone so rare these days, a popular artist. He makes mainstream movies that are artistic. To have the budget to do ‘The Truman Show’ or ‘Master and Commander,’ you need a Jim Carrey or Russell Crowe. I think Harrison Ford and Gerard Depardieu were his sort of actors. They were director-friendly and didn’t see themselves as important.”

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