Peter Webber (born May 1968) is a British film and television director and producer whose debut feature film as a director was '' Girl with a Pearl Earring'' (2003). He subsequently directed '' Hannibal Rising'' (2007).

Early life

Webber took a one-year Postgraduate Film and TV course at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

Career

Films

'' Girl with a Pearl Earring'', starring

Scarlett Johansson Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress and singer. The List of highest-paid film actors, world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has been featured multiple times on the Forbes Celebrity 100, ''F ...

and Colin Firth, marked Webber's feature film debut. The film has received numerous accolades, including three

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

nominations, two Golden Globe nominations, and 10

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to f ...

nominations. Dino De Laurentiis tapped Webber to direct '' Hannibal Rising''. Based on Thomas Harris' book of the same name, and starring Gaspard Ulliel, Gong Li and Rhys Ifans, this prequel depicts a young Hannibal Lecter as he gradually becomes a

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

. Webber made his first short film, ''The Zebra Man'', about sideshow performer Horace Ridler starring

Minnie Driver Amelia Fiona Jessica "Minnie" Driver (born 31 January 1970) is a British and American actress and singer. She rose to prominence with her break-out role in the 1995 film ''Circle of Friends (1995 film), Circle of Friends''. She went on to star i ...

. Then, in 2012, Webber returned to the big screen with the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

drama ''

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

'', starring Tommy Lee Jones.

Television

He directed Simon Russell Beale as

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

in ''The Temptation of Franz Schubert'' and explored the counter-culture of tunnel-dwelling road protesters in ''Underground''. His 2001

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

miniseries ''Men Only'' stirred controversy for its frank and shocking portrayal of the dark side of male sexuality. It is notable for giving early leads to Stephen Moyer of '' True Blood'' and Martin Freeman of '' The Hobbit''. In 2016, he directed the ITV miniseries ''

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun or Tutankhamen, (; ), was an Egyptian pharaoh who ruled during the late Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. Born Tutankhaten, he instituted the restoration of the traditional polytheistic form of an ...

'', starring Sam Neill.

Documentary

An award-winning documentary director, Webber directed several programmes for

about classical music including child prodigies, maestros and composers such as

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

. He also directed several popular science documentaries about a range of subjects including crash test dummies, deep sea life and phantom limbs. In 2009, he travelled into the remote

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

to film with the Macuna Tribe for a documentary called ''The Sand and the Rain''.

Producer

Webber moved to

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

in 2008 where he took up the post of Creative Director at Qatar National Day for two years. During this time he developed their film programme. While in Qatar he also executive produced several documentary films including Sarajevo Film Festival winner ''For the Love of Books'', which was also the recipient of a Grierson Award in 2012 for Best Historical Documentary.

Filmography

Films

* '' The Stretford Wives'' (2001) * '' Girl with a Pearl Earring'' (2003) * '' Hannibal Rising'' (2007) * ''

'' (2012) * ''Earth: One Amazing Day'' (2017) *'' Pickpockets: maestros del robo'' (2018) * '' Inna de Yard: The Soul of Jamaica'' (2019)

Television

* ''The Temptation of Franz Schubert'' (1997) * ''Underground'' (1999) * ''Men Only'' (2001) * '' Six Feet Under'' (2004, TV episode "The Dare") * ''

'' (2016) * '' Kingdoms of Fire'' (2019)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Webber, Peter 1968 births Alumni of the University of Bristol British film directors British television directors Living people