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Paul Weiland

Director Paul Weiland began his career in 1973 as a copywriter at London advertising agency Collett Dickenson Pearce & Partners. He worked briefly for the Alan Parker Film Company before setting up the Paul Weiland Film Company in 1980. The company now represents eleven directors both in the UK and America and is responsible for award winning commercials for clients including Hamlet Cigars, Heineken, British Telecom, Levis 501, Carlsberg, Walkers, and Coca-Cola. In 1988, he was voted top UK commercials director in Campaign's Top 100 League Table for his past 10 years work.

In 1987, Weiland turned his attention to drama and directed Anthony Minghella's The Storyteller: The Three Ravens, starring Miranda Richardson and John Hurt for Jim Henson Productions. He went on to direct two additional projects for Jim Henson Productions: in 1989, Living With Dinosaurs with Michael Maloney and Juliet Stevenson, which won an Emmy Award for Best International Children's Program, and in 1990, The Storyteller: Daedalus & Icarus, starring Michael Gambon and Derek Jacobi.

In 1991, Weiland directed episodes of the Rowan Atkinson hit television series Mr Bean and the charming Bernard and the Genie, a BBC Christmas special, starring Lenny Henry and Rowan Atkinson, which was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award.

He followed this by taking the helm of City Slickers II – The Legend of Curly's Gold, starring Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, Jon Lovitz, and Jack Palance. In 1997, he directed the romantic comedy Roseanna's Grave, starring Jean Reno and Mercedes Reuhl. The film won the Houston Film Festival Grand Award for Best Feature Film.

In 1999, he directed Rowan Atkinson, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Colin Firth, and Kate Moss in Blackadder Back & Forth.

While developing and directing feature films, Weiland continued to direct commercials. He has been recognized many times by the Design and Art Direction Awards and the British Television Advertising Awards (BTA). He also received the Best TV Commercial of the year (Schweppes), the Grand Prix de Press at Cannes (Heineken), as well as a BAFTA and a BTA Award for Best Cinema Commercials (Fosters).

In 1993, he won the BTA Chairman's Award for his outstanding contribution to the industry. From 1994 to 1997, The Paul Weiland Film Company took the BTA Award for the Most Successful Production Company. In 1997, the company was voted Campaign's top production company of the year and was ranked second top production company in the world. In 2002, at D&AD's fortieth anniversary ceremony, the company received the President's Award.

In 2003, Weiland set up Contagious, a company to develop and produce film projects in partnership with David Barron. In 2005, he directed Sixty Six, a Working Title feature based on his own life story.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2008.

Paul Weiland Facts

OccupationDirector
BirthdayJuly 11, 1953 (70)
SignCancer
BirthplaceEngland, United Kingdom

Selected Filmography

Made Of Honor
City Slickers 2
City Slickers II: The Legend Of Curly's Gold
Steel Magnolias / Sleepless in Seattle
Bernard and the Genie
For Roseanna
Made of Honor / My Best Friends Wedding
Leonard, Part 6
Black Adder: The Complete Collector's Set
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