LiveWorld Transcripts

Warner Bros. presents

Wolfgang Peterson
Director of "The Perfect Storm"

January 17, 2001

Mark Wahlberg tossed his cookies all over George Clooney’s shoes during the filming of “The Perfect Storm.” Director Wolfgang Peterson chats about his hit movie and shares some of the behind-the-scenes action and accidents.

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WarnerBros Host: Welcome to our live chat about "The Perfect Storm" with Director, Wolfgang Petersen. Watch the DVD and get answers to all of your questions about the movie, right here from the Director. Wolfgang will be chatting with us shortly This is how it will work- If you have "The Perfect Storm" DVD, a DVD-ROM computer, and of course, an Internet connection you will be able to watch the movie, ask our special guest questions, and follow his responses. If you will be watching the movie with us, be sure to enter the "Theater" through the DVD-ROM menu for online events. We will send a message to your computer shortly to begin the movie. Don't despair if you don't have all the right equipment. You can still participate in the chat! Please submit your questions throughout the event. If you don't get your question answered right away, keep trying. So find a seat, sit back, turn up the volume, and get ready to enjoy "The Perfect Storm" Virtual Theater! And now, we'd like to introduce our very special guest, Wolfgang Petersen!

Wolfgang Petersen: It's good to be here; it's fun, it's exciting.

Crazyguy: What was your favorite part of making this movie?

Wolfgang Petersen: Always when making movies, I don't like pre-production; l like shooting and I love editing!

Baggy: Do you find yourself drawn to water? I.e. “Das Boot” and “The Perfect Storm,” or is it just a coincidence? Are you a water sign?

Wolfgang Petersen: (laughing) No, I love water, I was born and raised in the northern part of Germany, Emden, which is near the sea, so whenever there are stories about the sea, I'm there.

Badguy: What was the hardest special effect to accomplish? What was the easiest?

Wolfgang Petersen: Um, the easiest was all the fish, because I had nothing to do. I just had to look at it and say "great!” Then the difficult one was the sequence when George Clooney was out on the mast, swinging back and forth. That was extremely difficult and extremely dangerous to shoot.

Frankenstein: I understand that George Clooney is a really hard worker and a fun guy to be around. Was this your experience?

Wolfgang Petersen: Absolutely true. He is a very down to earth guy. He has no 'star' behavior at all. You can do whatever you want; he'll go with you. I love this guy.

Frankenfurter: How long did you film on location, and were there any storms while you were there?

Wolfgang Petersen: Yeah, we were filming about 3 wks in Gloucester, on the east coast in Massachusetts. There was a hurricane named Floyd then coming our way and we were very scared, and we thought the coast would be hit; it just curved and went out to the open sea, so we were lucky.

PolitoFam: Who is the artist and what is the name of the song that is playing on the jukebox in the bar in the early part of the movie after the crew returns from their poor outing? It sounds like a Rod Stewart song, but there was no Rod Stewart listed on the ending credits.

Wolfgang Petersen: The question is correct. Actually there were several songs. The first one we hear was Bruce Springsteen, but later that night it is Rod Stewart, so you're right!

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