Over here, Peter Weir is an absolute legend. This is the man who directed “Witness,” “The Truman Show,” “Picnic at Hanging Rock,” “The Year of Living Dangerously,” “Dead Poets Society,” and many more.
With that said, the four-time Best Director Oscar nominee hasn’t made a movie since 2010’s “The Way Back.” Why? Ethan Hawke seems to think he knows the answer.
Speaking to IndieWire, Hawke claims Weir is retired and that the reason for it is quite simply because he got bored of filmmaking and the ego of certain actors:
“I think he lost interest in movies. 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.”
Hawke throwing a little shade towards Crowe isn’t surprising. During his peak years as an actor (1999-2007) Crowe had his fair share of anger issues. But Depp? Weird never made a movie with Depp.
Weir was, however, attached to direct “Shantaram” starring Depp until he left the project due to “creative differences”. Is Hawke basically hinting that it was Depp’s fault that the project fell apart?
Regardless, Weir is now 78 and currently resides in his home country of Australia. Maybe one day he’ll have to itch to un-retire, but time is definitely running out.