Peter Weir Interview Truman Show

The Truman Show Directed by Peter Weir

Peter Weir

Peter Weir: Interviews is the first volume of interviews to be published on the esteemed Australian director. Although Weir (b. 1944) has acquired a reputation of being guarded about his life and work, these interviews by archivists, journalists, historians, and colleagues reveal him to be a most amiable and forthcoming subject. He talks about “the precious desperation of the art, the madness, the willingness to experiment” in all his films; the adaptation process from novel to film, when he tells a scriptwriter, “I'm going to eat your script; it's going to be part of my blood!”; and his self-assessment as “merely a jester, with cap and bells, going from court to court.” He is encouraged, even provoked to tell his own story, from his childhood in a Sydney suburb in the 1950s, to his apprenticeship in the Australian television industry in the 1960s, his preparations to shoot his first features in the early 1970s, his international celebrity in Australia and Hollywood. An extensive new interview details his current plans for a new film. Interviews discuss Weir's diverse and impressive range of work—his earlier films Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave, Gallipoli, and The Year of Living Dangerously, as well as Academy Award-nominated Witness, Dead Poets Society, Green Card, The Truman Show, and Master and Commander. This book confirms that the trajectory of Weir's life and work parallels and embodies Australia's own quest to define and express a historical and cultural identity.

The Message Behind the Movie—The Reboot

When it comes to movies, people of faith often focus on negative assessments of the film industry and certain style elements that they find objectionable, such as violence, nudity, or harsh language. While these criticisms are important, they are not the whole story. A film's message and its method are not always the same thing. By discussing the cinematic techniques and the genre considerations filmmakers use to communicate their ideas, this book helps Catholics and other Christians to become informed viewers. Douglas Beaumont shows how to evaluate the stories that movies tell and how to discern what they say about reality, God, and what it means to be human. At the same time, he illustrates how movie watchers can engage in thoughtful, lively discussions about not only film but also the big questions in life.