ट्रिविया

Directed 5 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Linda Hunt, Harrison Ford, Robin Williams, Rosie Perez and Ed Harris. Hunt won an Oscar for The Year of Living Dangerously (1982).

Das weiße Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (2009) is one of his favourite films.

Famous for making well-known comedy and genre actors into credible dramatic actors such as Harrison Ford, Robin Williams and Jim Carrey.

Holds a Law degree from the University of Sydney, one of the best-performing law schools in the world.

His films often feature a key scene involving a main character fiddling with their radio.

He is an avid reader and three of his favorite books are Hope Against Hope by Nadezhda Mandel'shtam, My Century by Aleksander Wat and Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.

His films very often deal with people, who find themselves in surroundings, where they do not fit in (e.g. a Philadelphia Cop among the Amish, in विटनेस (1985), or a progressive teacher on a strictly conservative school, in Dead Poets Society (1989)).

He has directed three films that have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: विटनेस (1985), Dead Poets Society (1989) and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003).

He was a part of the movement dubbed the "Australian New Wave" by the press. They were a group of filmmakers and performers who emerged from Down Under at about the same time in the early 1980's and found work in other parts of the world. Other members included actors Mel Gibson and Judy Davis and directors George Miller and Gillian Armstrong.

He was awarded the A.M. (Member of the Order of Australia) in the 1982 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to the Film Industry.

President of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 50th Venice International Film Festival in 1993.

Father of Ingrid Weir.

Interviewed in "Directors Close Up: Interviews with Directors Nominated for Best Film by the Directors Guild of America", ed. by Jeremy Kagan, Scarecrow Press, 2006.

Palm Beach, New South Wales, California (जनवरी 2009)