WTF Happened to PETER WELLER?

when asked to give his thoughts on the art of Cinema and the movieo experience actor director and history Professor Peter Weller once said this the best reason to go to the movies is to be with other people when people are rubbing against other people like that Humanity's better off people expand themselves they get out of themselves love you got to get out and be with people once people are out and a movie theater then you can inform them about themselves the ever articulate and principled Peter Weller has told us a lot about ourselves in his roles as an actor and director and more and learning about this gifted Storyteller and true renaissance man can really tell us a lot he has been a part of some of the most mindbending mindblowing mind expanding mind sucking movies in history and he's always always stood out no matter what film he's in existing comfortably on the line between leading man and character actor but Weller hasn't been seen in a major motion picture since 2013 Star Trek Into Darkness which itself ended a long Silver Screen Hiatus is this man's relative absence from the movie screen a product of demand or might it be more down to his preference should his career be brought back to the mainstream Spotlight like he was Murphy returning from the afterlife or is he too busy doing more interesting things let's find out a little bit about actor Peter Weller and find out a little bit about ourselves as we ask the question what the [ __ ] happened to Peter Weller but to truly understand what the [ __ ] happened to Peter Weller we must begin at the beginning and the beginning began when he was born on his birthday 1947 Wisconsin his mother was a third generation jazz pianist and introduced him to the music of legendary jazz player Miles Davis who would become Weller's quote one and only real hero and later Weller's friend Peter Weller's father served in Korea and Vietnam as an army helicopter pilot and later serving as president lbj's personal helicopter pilot before becoming a lawyer and a judge with these examples to live up to is it any wonder that Peter Weller has never been truly content with being just an actor after years of a nomadic lifestyle that's serving in the military dictates the family Weller settled in Texas young Peter Weller graduated from Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio in 1965 and attended the University of North Texas initially for music while playing trumpet in a school band he would later make the switch to the drama program and graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in theater but of course maintained a passion for playing Jazz he proceeded to the American Academy of dramatic arts in New York and would appear on Broadway in Sticks and Stones before even graduating after this Peter would appear in many prestigious stage shows he would also appear in some TV movies before making his theatrical film debut with 1979's Butch and Sundance the early years he operated under legendary filmmaker Sydney lumette in the 1980 film just tell me what you want followed by by the 1982 family relationship drama shoot the moon before landing the lead in a wonderful 1983 horror flick called of Unknown Origin Peter Weller's performance carried the film which was essentially a one-man show which earned him the best actor award at the Paris International Film Festival this film of Unknown Origin was pretty much the known origin of how Peter Weller became a well-known name everybody who was anybody in Show Business was talking about this Peter guy and while Weller would go on to be best known for RoboCop of course it isn't the only one of his lead roles from the80s that is essential viewing there was 1984's The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonsai across the eighth Dimension which features a charismatic multifaceted performance by Peter Weller at as the titular character and Buckaroo Bonsai much like Peter Weller himself is a renaissance man he's an expert in brain surgery gunfighting physics kinjutsu engineering along with being a talented musician and yeah that's the character right there in this Mind of a movie that is absolutely Bonkers in the best way possible it's a true wonderfully ridiculous piece of poetry Weller's experience ience in this movie Buckaroo Bonsai led to him playing in a jazz band with co-star Jeff Goldblum who would later refer to Peter Weller as enormously talented cool and great Peter Weller would form his own Jazz quintet called fly naked and would continue to perform with them for over 25 years no matter where you go there you are of the movie The Adventures of buckaroo across the eighth Dimension Peter Weller would say I think because you can't pin it down that is what the appeal is people are attracted to the question mark and the movie does raise a lot more questions than answers and it's a beautiful thing but past all the wonderful sci-fi camp and wacky cinematic Wonder Buckaroo Bonsai does what the best superhero stories do inspires you to Aspire and to leverage your gifts for the greater good the enduring appeal of the character is showcased by its being featured in the 2011 novel Ready Player one and the 2018 movie unfortunately the sequel teased at the end of the original film Buckaroo Bonsai against the world crime League never saw the light of day due to the lack of box office success for the original but even though this movie didn't make money it sure made an impression on people who appreciate stuff like this you know it's a cult classic are you in the cult you should join the cult later in 1984 Peter Weller starred in first born he also starred in the 1985 crime drama a killing Affair and then came what Peter Weller would come to call his contribution to cinema in 1987's Robocop his portrayal as Murphy and RoboCop earned him a nomination for a Saturn Award for best actor and he helped RoboCop become one of the most iconic cinematic characters ever not just one of the most iconic robots or one of the most iconic action heroes one of the most iconic characters ever everybody knows what RoboCop is if you're cool excuse me robo any special message for all the kids watching at home stay out of trouble Peter Weller's commitment and dedication to the RoboCop character garnered it iconic status his genuine Integrity in and out of the suit resonated with audiences with makeup and Prosthetics it took him 8 hours to get into costume before filming Weller's movement and presence and performance is so powerful that he is able to draw sympathy even through that thick armor he leveraged his captivating voice to express Authority and bring gravitas to the character Weller's obsessive dedication rubbed some of the cast and crew on the set of RoboCop the wrong way you know he kind of went full method on this one and insisted on being referred to by his characters names Murphy and Robo while on set and he refused to remove the helmet like he's a freaking Mandalorian and he refused to remove this helmet because he wanted to stay in the character's mindset Weller has since said that it would have been impossible to endure the grueling physical strain of playing role without his manner of method disassociation so he had to be crazy or he would go crazy and even though some may not have understood Peter Weller's methods Master filmmaker Paul verhoven said that wellers was wonderful to work with and did not complain too much despite being in an extremely uncomfortable suit beauty is pain pain is Beauty and this right here it's a beautyful CO coar Nancy Allen recounted because of how good he is at this job that made it really easy for me this beautifully violent satire was a certifiable hit and has grown into classic status since its release it's one of those movies that can be appreciated by Art housee snobs and people who just like to eat popcorn and watch things go boom Weller would then go on to star with Sam Elliott in the 1988 over-the-top crime drama Shakedown and those lead performances that those guys gave in that movie Shakedown well they were well received he would follow that up by Leading a great ensemble cast in 1989's Leviathan which has been wrongfully labeled an under SE alien knockoff that also steals from the thing but it's so much more than that you guys just because it's similar to other movies doesn't mean it's a bad movie and Peter Weller he's so cool in Leviathan and he easily fits into this Underwater World of metal and Fire and Blood it's freaking awesome say [ __ ] Peter Weller reprised his most famous role in the 1990 sequel RoboCop 2 circumstances and schedules led to a new director and a new writing team and Peter Weller would Clash with the new faces over creative voices considering how poorly the sequel was received maybe Peter Weller was right he understood what made the original film work and it was that ver hovan sense of humor and social commentary which the sequel just could not muster RoboCop 2 fell into the typical sequel pitfalls rehashing the wrong aspects of the original without the same cohesiveness and depth but you know what looking back RoboCop 2 is actually better than the RoboCop remake so there's that it's also better than RoboCop 3 but you know so is everything and Peter Weller would opt out of Robocop 3 due to his poor experiences on RoboCop 2 and fatigue with playing that character and probably because the script was even worse the third time around and Peter Weller he demands Excellence so instead Peter Weller would Lobby for the lead role in naked lond by writing a letter to master filmmaker David Cronenberg it would go on to be one of Peter Weller's favorite roles Weller's typical engaging and measured performance anchored a movie whose Source material has been deemed unfilmable but Cronenberg and Weller and the incredible practical effects filmed it they freaking filmed the unfilmable y'all that's right this is a controversial Mind of a movie but yeah Weller makes it believable and our puny brains are able to process and at least pretend to understand what's going on his work in Naked Lunch earned him a genie award nomination for best performance by an actor in a leading role much deserve after appearing in the action buddy comedy 5050 in 1992 Peter Weller would step into the director's chair for the first time for the showtime short film Partners in 199 3 impressively for a debut it was nominated for best short film at the Oscars Weller would come to call directing much more interesting to do much more satisfying to tell the whole story which goes some distance toward explaining how he spent much of his career always looking to tell the best story possible after 1994's the new age and 1995 screamers Weller would work under master filmmaker Woody Allen in 1995's Mighty Aphrodite and we all know it takes a talented actor to spit out some of that fastpaced witty Woody dialogue after the 1998 crime drama top of the world and the 1999 film diplomatic Siege his next acclaimed performance would be in Ivan's ecstasy XTC for which he would be nominated for an independent Spirit Award for best supporting male truly prestigious indeed in the early 20 Peter Weller made the transition to working primarily on television notably acting and directing episodes of Odyssey 5 and appearing in Star Trek Enterprise in 2005 being a lover of learning and history Mr Weller hosted engineering and Empire for the History Channel in 2005 through 2007 and he's appeared in multiple other programs for that Network in 2006 he wonderfully played Christopher Henderson during season 5 of 24 an excellent show which Peter Weller fit right in that fastpaced action-packed suspenseful world he had some great chemistry with kefir after taking a slight break from television he made a memorable one episode appearance in the show Fringe in 2010 and this role is notable for the parallels to his famous RoboCop character with Weller playing a man who is part machine but this time by his own hand he appears in season five of The Fantastic show Dexter Weller played a cop again the corrupt antagonist to the titular anti-hero Dexter he was part of an ensemble that was nominated for the Screen Actor Guild award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series it's an honor just to be nominated and then he seemed to finally find his place in the director's chair bringing us some of the best television in decent memory Peter directed 11 episodes of Sons of Anarchy from seasons 4 to 7 and starting in 2011 he actually appeared in 11 episodes in season 6 and 7 as another corrupt former police officer and final primary antagonist for the series Weller effectively conveyed his character's development from Minor Threat to major player he also appeared in an episode of Hawaii 5 in 2013 and would go on to direct 15 episodes of that show from 2013 to 2020 he also directed five and appeared in seven episodes of Longmire portraying another great character beloved by all who watched it and no he was not done directing yet he directed eight episodes of The Last Ship and he appeared in Eight Episodes he would also direct and appear in mcgyver and direct five episodes of Magnum PI from 2018 to 2021 that's kind of recent a new Magnum PI next Friday at 98 Central on CBS but yeah one of Peter Weller's best tools as an actor is his voice and he was allowed to use that commanding voice to play yet another iconic character a freaking Legend Peter Weller's voice was featured in The Animated feature Batman The Dark Knight Returns based on the comic books by RoboCop 2 writer Frank Miller that's right Peter Weller is freaking Batman Robocop and freaking Batman Weller was nominated for three behind the voice actor awards for this role it's the perfect voice it's perfect casting and you know what Weller's name needs to be mentioned more when all of you nerds talk about who's the best Batman he he he's up there he deserves a mention and I'm mentioning him now Peter Weller would then make a triumphant return to major Motion Pictures with 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness in it he portrayed the antagonist Starfleet Admiral Alexander Marcus like he has many times before Peter Weller displayed a commanding ruthless performance and had great chemistry opposite the story's protagonists he was a good bad guy to the good guys and Weller's performance is a big part of what made this movie so successful and Lov by critics and audiences alike what I'm trying to say is that he helped us take this seriously I guess and it worked if I'm not in charge our entire way of life is decimated so you want me off this ship you better kill me in 2022 Peter Weller appeared in the Netflix horror Anthology G mod del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities he's in the episode the viewing and is absolutely terrifying and beautifully creepy and hypnotic totally fits with the nightmarish style of the show he's outstanding while also voicing the character of Dr Stern for the Marvel Disney plus television series Moon girl and devil dinosaur in 2024 that's right now this year if you're watching this right now in this year overall Peter Weller's television career has proven his versatil and consistency as well as his ability to bring intensity and depth to every character he portrayed while also being one hell of a director Peter has proven himself a talented and collaborative artist with the ability and experience to get the best from his cast and crew Weller would also lend his legendary vocals to video games including Call of Duty Wilson's Heart heart and he would voice RoboCop again in Family Guy The Quest for Stuff Mortal Combat 11 and 2023 is RoboCop Rogue City that's right our boy is still Robo and even though I don't play video games it just makes me feel good that these exist and Peter still doing the robo voice freaking awesome Peter Weller has never been content with just being an actor and just being a director he has long been outspoken about political and social issues never strictly aligning with any political party he's especially passionate about education funding and Peter made Time magazine's list of 10 Wicked smart actors in 2012 he's a multil linguist fluent in French Italian and English in addition to his education at un and the American Academy of dramatic arts he earned a master's degree in Roman and Renaissance art from Syracuse University's Florence Italy campus in 2004 and he earned a PhD in Italian Renaissance art history from UCLA in 2014 that's right RoboCop became Robo doc or Robo PhD and Weller has served as a professor for Syracuse University and guest lecturer at numerous other respected instit tions all while providing a scholarship fund to art history students at Syracuse in honor of his parents for the History Channel I'm Peter Weller so yeah what the happened to Peter Weller well he's dedicated his time to learning teaching playing music Raising a Son and has done plenty of appearances behind and in front of the camera for television Peter Weller's film and television character characters especially that of Robocop and even Buckaroo have enduring cultural legacies which is a sign of a transformative actor Weller could have been and perhaps should have been an even bigger star but I'm not sure he ever really wanted to be almost like he's too good for that and I mean that in the best way possible like he's too cool to be a movie star he's an artist who's hungry for knowledge and cre creative experimentation possessing superhuman Drive energy and talent Weller more than most actors exercises his various passions and skills and so his impact was not only far-reaching and longlasting but wide ranging with his versatile and influential contributions to film television music and Academia Peter Weller has proven himself to be an actor who can trans transform not only himself but also the culture around him in his own words he would say my career was always full of risks one way or another and that's the way I like it so nobody should give a about what the happened to Peter Weller because he's doing just fine [Music] w [Music]

Channel: JoBlo Originals

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Id: Wq5VjP6r_QM

Length: 23min 3sec (1383 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 16 2024