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Vesurel t1_iugbi83 wrote

The director Paul Verhoeven also studied and wrote about theology and the life of Jesus. Kyle Kallgren has an interesting video on his movies.

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Taiut t1_iugbnow wrote

What a guy!

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Bes1208 t1_iugd0ao wrote

My sister had him as a professor at Syracuse. I always asked her how Professor RoboCop was.

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ohp250 t1_iugenk3 wrote

That’s pretty gnarly! He was excellent as the collector in The Viewing.

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Sweatsock_Pimp t1_iugerzm wrote

He also hosted a show on the History Channel, back when it had shows about history. ‘Engineering an Empire’ I think?

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trymypi t1_iugf2vh wrote

Dr. Peter Weller*

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borisdidnothingwrong t1_iugghn0 wrote

But you know what I remember most about him?

They said that he could stand, with his feet together like this, and spring straight over a man's head.

If Leon Battista Alberti couldn't have done that, I wouldn't have remembered a thing about him.

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FastWalkingShortGuy t1_iuggpe7 wrote

Dexter Holland, the frontman of the Offspring and the brilliant poet behind such lyrics as, "I may be dumb, but I'm not a dweeb," and "Uno, dos, tres, quatro cinco cinco seis," has a PhD in molecular biology with his thesis being, "Discovery of mature microRNA sequences within the protein-coding regions of global HIV-1 genomes: predictions of novel mechanisms for viral infection and pathogenicity."

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NecessaryHuckleberry t1_iugj90e wrote

I’ve seen him on a few documentary shows and he is really fun to listen to.

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somdude04 t1_iugkbsb wrote

Been watching Cabinet of Curiosities?

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frankdrebin1212 t1_iugkepd wrote

He hosted engineering an empire on the history channel that was a fantastic show

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AwesomeBrainPowers t1_iugkho4 wrote

I know this isn't as impressive, but he was also the featured guest star in a Fringe episode called "White Tulip", which was probably the best episode that show ever did and is possibly one of the finest episodes of sci-fi television ever made.

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IBeTrippin t1_iugkl86 wrote

Bet he's fun when proctoring tests. Alright students, put your pencils down. You have 30 seconds to comply.

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vainamo- t1_iugn0bz wrote

My brother was one of his professors! Cool guy.

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zoinkability t1_iugn2w3 wrote

Well what do you expect from the rock musician brain surgeon who perfected the Oscillation Overthruster?

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UCLYayy t1_iugplww wrote

Saw him around campus at UCLA almost weekly. Very nice dude.

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hillo538 t1_iugqxzm wrote

This post started off in what I thought was my wheelhouse and every successive word carried it out to tide

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Annoschaf t1_iuguyth wrote

He also played Buckaroo Banzai in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. One of my favorite 80's movies.

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jcmach1 t1_iugvdz8 wrote

Last time I visited Istanbul, he was filming a documentary at the gates of the Palace for BBC, or PBS... Someone anyway

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lolabythebay t1_iugwef7 wrote

I took a really cool, small math course in college that was called something like "Geometry Through Technology: Art and Nature," and with only a dozen or so students sometimes it just devolved into the professor nerding out about Renaissance art and talking about all the cool stuff he did while living in Florence. He and his wife kind of got to be friendly acquaintances with Weller, who was working on his dissertation at the same time.

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cesarmac t1_iugyjub wrote

So looked it up a bit. This dude was doing his PhD while filming Star Trek Into Darkness and submitted his thesis the same year the movie released.

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King_Sombrero t1_iugymu9 wrote

“Dead or alive you’ll study with me”

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right-arrow t1_iugyo5i wrote

And do you want fries with that?

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wendalpendal t1_iugyrgh wrote

Then he shot rapist in the dick and jabbed a pointy thing in another baddie's neck

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despenser412 t1_iugzysp wrote

Replying to Sweatsock_Pimp (#368,471)

As a fan of ancient history I watch a lot of documentaries on YouTube. When he randomly showed up in one it totally took me by surprise. I thought he was going to be some random celebrity used to sell the show. Turns out he's very passionate about that stuff!

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metabeliever t1_iuh2olz wrote

Really followed his niche dreams with that robocop money

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Sanguiluna t1_iuh2oye wrote

I first discovered this when my history professor in college showed a documentary that Weller was the host/narrator of; literally blurted “That’s fucking Robocop!” out loud when I saw him.

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nsvxheIeuc3h2uddh3h1 t1_iuh2wm8 wrote

Well, Actors do need something to fall back on to pay the bills.

One of the Actors who had one of the leading roles in "Desperate Housewives" became a fully fledged Psychiatrist.

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iainfull t1_iuhdpx4 wrote

Shit, props to him I guess

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Kahnza t1_iuhfnab wrote

Loved him in the movie Screamers. I don't think most people are even aware of it.

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YounomsayinMawfk t1_iuhl1le wrote

I know someone who took this class. The first day of class, Peter Weller said, "yes, I played Robocop. I'll give you 15 minutes to ask anything about my film career but after that, no more film questions."

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FleurDeezNutz t1_iuhlsy5 wrote

He comes to New Orleans often and always dines at this place I worked at, so I waited on him several times. Always sits by himself, reading a book, and is just the nicest, most humble person you'll meet. Engaging, open, friendly, etc. 1000% awesome human being.

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peoplearecool t1_iuhm4gv wrote

After which went on go become a rich space demon … thanks Guillermo Del Toro!

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linksawakening82 t1_iuhpnq7 wrote

She made me feel deserving like my name was Alex Murphy. She said nice to meet you Yoshimitsu, no I am not worthy.

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wjglenn t1_iuhrf9y wrote

Replying to TacoCommand (#374,926)

Peter Weller was always a fine actor but in his later years, he’s developed a real gravity. Watching him and John Noble play off one another was a real treat.

Plus, it was a solid sci-fi story with real emotional underpinnings.

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AshgarPN t1_iuhrp4b wrote

A real renaissance man.

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AwesomeBrainPowers t1_iuhs0zm wrote

Replying to TacoCommand (#374,926)

What the others said: It manages to establish real emotional stakes—and pay them off in a poignant, understated way—all in a single hour of television.

And watching Peter Weller and John Noble share scenes together was fantastic.

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Mind_taker84 t1_iuhs766 wrote

He played a villain in the show "The Last Ship" where his character was a professor of ancient history and peppers in facts about the renaissance art and architecture throughout his monologues. I loved his History Channel show Engineering An Empire when i was a kid.

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loganallenwolf t1_iuhyyp3 wrote

When Peter Weller directed an episode of the TV show Sleepy Hollow (my wife worked on the show), during breaks he would go out to the parking lot to play his fluglehorn, in his black leather jacket, in the Georgia heat. Everybody liked him on the show.

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m_faustus t1_iuicprc wrote

He’ll always be Professor Banzai to me.

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JoshSidekick t1_iuigvgr wrote

Buckaroo Banzai is a man of many talents.

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Rajaden t1_iuihm16 wrote

This is undoubtedly the most random fact I've heard in a long time. Take my upvote!

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tacknosaddle t1_iuiinkw wrote

Replying to theRealMrBrownstone (#368,827)

He turned down Robocop 3 because he wanted to be in Naked Lunch as he was a big fan of Burroughs (he has a signed first edition of it and says the book had a huge impact on him in the 1960s). When he heard about the project he reached out to them offering his services because he wanted to be in it so badly.

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ID-10T-ERROR t1_iuin410 wrote

Meh, you can see the pretentious episode 7 "the viewing" from Guillermo del toros cabinet of curiosities, to get sense of Weller's academic lecture of life and all.

The most boring and disappointing episode so far.

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Zealousideal_Role189 t1_iuj53l0 wrote

Alberti is a good choice. I bet he wrote a pretty interesting paper. Architecture. Art. Books. Philosophy. The dude did it all.

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Lelabear t1_iujec97 wrote

Replying to BoxOfSnoo (#383,063)

Really want to know? I happened to be on the set of Robocop quite a bit and hassled Peter about it until he confessed that it was a set up for the next movie (which was never filmed). Supposedly the plot revolved around how watermelons solve the problem of world hunger.

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