Wolfgang Petersen, the German director behind hits like Das Boot, Air Force One, The Perfect Storm, and Troy, died after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 81. Petersen died with his wife of 50 years, Maria Antoinette, by his side at his Los Angeles home, reports Deadline.
Petersen was born on March 14, 1941, in Emden, Germany, and began his career in television. He scored his breakout film in 1981 with Das Boot, a rare foreign language film that became a box office hit in the U.S. The epic film focuses on the crew of a German submarine during the World War II Battle of the Atlantic. Das Boot earned six Oscar nominations, including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Petersen. It still holds the record for most Oscar nominations for a German film and is widely considered to be among the best German movies ever made.
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After the international success of Das Boot, Hollywood came calling. Petersen’s first English-language movie was the 1984 fantasy epic The NeverEnding Story, based on the book by Michael Ende. The film, released by Warner Bros. in the U.S. and produced by German studios, was a sensation in Germany.
Although The NeverEnding Story may have hinted at an interest in family movies from Petersen, he quickly moved away from that. His follow-up was the box office bomb Enemy Mine, starring Dennis Quaid. The film has since developed a cult following, but its failure meant Petersen was sidelined from directing for six years.
The next phase of Petersen’s career took off in earnest with Shattered, a 1991 thriller starring Tom Berenger, Bob Hoskins, and Greta Scacchi. It wasn’t a big hit either, but it hinted at Petersen’s interest in thrillers. His 1993 Clint Eastwood movie In the Line of Fire was his best-received film since Das Boot and drew acclaim for Eastwood’s performance as a Secret Service agent who failed to save President John F. Kennedy. In the Line of Fire revived Petersen’s career, earning $177 million worldwide, notes Variety.
Petersen continued helming box office hits for the rest of his Hollywood career. He directed Harrison Ford in Air Force One in 1997, George Clooney in 2000’s The Perfect Storm, and Brad Pitt in 2004’s Troy. His final Hollywood movie was the 2006 disaster movie Poseidon, a loose remake of the 1972 movie. Petersen retired after Poseidon, which was a huge money loser for Warner Bros. after marketing costs were counted.
In 2016, he returned to Germany for one last project, Vier Gegen die Bank (Four Against the Bank), an adaptation of a Ralph Maloney book Petersen previously adapted for German television in 1976. Petersen is survived by his second wife, Maria-Antoinette Borgel, whom he married in 1978, and his son from his first marriage, writer-directer Daniel Petersen.
