Peter Weir, the Australian director of The Truman Show, Gallipoli and Dead Poets Society, was handed a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Film Festival on Monday, and advised young filmmakers to unplug to get ahead.
Weir, 80, made his international breakthrough with the 1975 arthouse classic Picnic at Hanging Rock, before moving on to work in Hollywood, making Witness, starring Harrison Ford, Green Card, with Andie MacDowell, and other hits.
He received an Honorary Oscar Award in 2022 and confirmed earlier this year that he was retiring from directing. Speaking to reporters in Venice, he said aspiring directors needed to get back to basics and escape the noise of modern living.
“Starting off today, I would say even don’t pick a camera up. I would pick up a pencil and paper … I would practice like a gymnasium, exercising in here, not the muscles, but the mental muscles. We are capable of extraordinary things in here,” he told a news conference, pointing to his head.
“Unplug, get away from too much information, go somewhere quiet and into the country, go and work on a merchant ship.”
Despite his ready advice, Weir said he did not want to mentor aspiring directors. “No, it should be lonely. It’s a lonely road. You have to travel alone.”
To honour Weir, Venice screened his 2003 film, the seafaring epic Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, with Russell Crowe in the lead role.
He said the producers had originally wanted to make a sequel, but scrapped the plan because the movie didn’t do well enough at the box office – a decision that came as something of a relief to Weir.
“I always hoped there would not be sequels or remakes. I liked myself to move on. I didn’t ever want to repeat myself,” he said.
Weir said he had originally thought of being an actor, before deciding he was better off behind the camera. However, he admitted his heart lay in music.
“I would swap directing for composing,” he said.