Captain Jack Aubrey could have come off a little two dimensional without the force that Russell brings to the role 
Australian director Peter Weir has had a long and varied career behind the camera. After making his name down under on Picnic At Hanging Rock and The Cars That Ate Paris, he went to Hollywood to helm Witness, Dead Poets Society, Green Card, and The Truman Show. His latest film is a swashbuckling yarn based on the novels of Patrick O'Brian, starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany.
In the book, the Acheron was an American ship. When did you decide to make it French?
Quite early on. What a dirty little war 1812 was. I thought it was going to take me ages to explain it, and even then it wasn't very satisfying in its sense of resolution. Patrick O'Brian [the late author of the original novels] said in interviews that he wished he'd started the series earlier so he didn't run out of history, or at least of the more interesting history of the Napoleonic Wars. I've been asked in interviews if the change was because of American sensibilities, but the Americans were actually the underdogs in that story. It was just too complex.
Why has it taken so long for Patrick O'Brian's novels to come to the screen?
He wrote without the cinema in mind, thank God, so they're not plot-driven stories. And there's never really an ending in them. Even the last book, the 20th book, doesn't end with a symphonic, loud explosion. It's really just one 5,000 page novel. So it's probably more ideal for television in that sense, but still very costly. I'm in awe of what British television did with Hornblower. I think they can justify it when they look at my work and say, "Tut, all that money and only two ships!"
This is the first fiction film to shoot on the Galapagos Islands. How did that come about?
It took nine months of negotiations. They just wouldn't commit to it. I think the script was the most persuasive thing in the end. The story elements involving the Galapagos Islands appealed to them, especially the fact that the character was a naturalist. I don't think it would have happened if it had been any other type of activity... like whaling!
Was anyone other than Russell Crowe considered for the lead role?
No. Well, I had a kind of "shadow government" in mind, but like your opposition over here it was very shadowy. But it's awful when you only have one choice. It's a terrible feeling for a director.
What made Crowe right for the role?
He's that rare combination of movie star and consummate screen actor. Generally people in his position are in a bit of a stricture because they can't step out much from what we all love. Captain Jack Aubrey could have come off a little two dimensional without the force that Russell brings to the role.
