Wolfgang Petersen is a controversial filmmaker who has been both praised for his professionalism and attention to detail and criticized for producing a string of standard commercial Hollywood blockbusters.
Born in Emden, Germany, Petersen was the son of a naval officer and developed a lifelong fascination with the sea and naval subjects. He attended drama school in Hamburg, where he made 8 mm films and directed plays at the Junges Theater.
Petersen joined the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin in 1966, where he made several short films and directed TV movies that often dealt with controversial issues such as environmental pollution and underage sex.
His early success came with the psychological thriller One or the Other in 1974, which starred Jürgen Prochnow and Elke Sommer. This led to more regular assignments on the popular detective series Tatort, for which Petersen directed six episodes.
In 1980, Petersen was commissioned to direct Das Boot, based on the novel by Lothar G. Buchheim. The film became a critical and commercial success, starring Jürgen Prochnow and earning six Academy Award nominations.
Petersen's subsequent films included the children's fantasy The NeverEnding Story in 1984, which was a commercial success but received mixed reviews. He also directed the science fiction drama Enemy Mine in 1985, which was a modest financial success but received better reviews over the years.
In 1987, Petersen moved to Santa Monica, California, where he became part of an A-list of directors tasked with helming big-budget blockbusters starring big-name actors. His films during this period included In the Line of Fire, Air Force One, and Troy, which grossed $497.4 million worldwide.
However, some of Petersen's films during this period received lukewarm to cool reviews, including Outbreak and The Perfect Storm. His remake of Poseidon in 2006 was a critical and commercial flop, and he went on to have a decade-long hiatus before directing his final picture, the German heist drama Vier gegen die Bank in 2016.
Petersen was married twice, first to Maria-Antoinette Borgel, with whom he had a son. He died from pancreatic cancer on August 12, 2022, in Brentwood, California.
