Everett Collection
The Perfect Storm star Diane Lane paid tribute today to its director Wolfgang Petersen, who died Friday at 81.
Wolfgang Petersen: A Career In Photos
“My heart is sad today,” she said in a statement to Deadline. “Wolfgang was a big, loving soul. A natural leader via positive encouragement; dare I say, he was a spiritual channel for us, grounding truly big stories to move us all through heights and depths. Literally, just being near him made me a better actor. My sincere condolences and love to his family.”
The Oscar-nominated actress was the female lead in The Perfect Storm, which starred George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and John C. Reilly as commercial fisherman from small-town Massachusetts who get caught in a freak North Atlantic weather event that never had happened in recorded history. The film detailed the men’s battle for survival as multiple storms collided and the desperate attempt to locate the vessel after it was reported overdue.
Hollywood & Media Deaths 2022: A Photo Gallery
The cast also included William Fichtner, John Hawkes, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Karen Allen, Allen Payne, Rusty Schwimmer and Cherry Jones.
Based on Sebastian Junger’s nonfiction book about the 1991 wreck of the Andrea Gail, The Perfect Storm was the highest-grossing film of Petersen’s career both domestically ($182.6 million) and worldwide ($328.7 million). It opened on June 30, 2000, at No. 1 with $41.3 million stateside. The pic repeated at No. 1 the following weekend and remained in the Top 10 for eight weeks.