Wolfgang Petersen was a German filmmaker. He was nominated for two Academy Awards for the World War II submarine warfare film Das Boot (1981). His other films include The NeverEnding Story (1984), Enemy Mine (1985), In the Line of Fire (1993), Outbreak (1995), Air Force One (1997), The Perfect Storm (2000), Troy (2004), and Poseidon (2006).
Petersen in 2006
From left to right: Stanley O'Toole, Dennis Quaid and Petersen in 1984
Petersen, Boulevard der Stars, Berlin
Das Boot is a 1981 West German war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer and Klaus Wennemann. It has been exhibited both as a theatrical release (1981) and a TV miniseries (1985). Also, several different home video versions, as well as a director's cut (1997) supervised by Petersen, have been released.
Original German theatrical poster
The conning tower of the submarine, Bavaria Studios, Munich
U-boat pens at the harbor of La Rochelle (2007) 46°9′32″N 1°12′33″W / 46.15889°N 1.20917°W / 46.15889; -1.20917
U-995, a U-boat of the version VII-C/41, at its exhibition in Laboe in 2004