Television commercials Weiland began his directing career making British television commercials. Weiland is the owner of The Paul Weiland Film Company and has become a multimillionaire with his work on television commercials.
Leonard Part 6 In 1987, Weiland made his debut as a feature film director with
Leonard Part 6, a comedy starring
Bill Cosby as secret agent who is called out of retirement to save the world from an evil genius who has developed the ability to brainwash small animals into killing humans. The film was a critical and
box office bomb. The
Village Voice called it "the worst film of the decade." The
Times noted that, although Weiland was the director, "clearly Cosby, as star, producer and idea man, is the auteur here." "Cosby attributed most of the movie's problems to first-time director Weiland, whom he felt was too young and inexperienced. Cosby himself was producer and writer of the story".
Mr. Bean Between 1991 and 1992, Weiland directed several episodes of the
Mr. Bean television series starring
Rowan Atkinson. In 2005,
The Times wrote: "The director Paul Weiland made millions laugh with the television comedy series Mr Bean and
Alas Smith and Jones."
''City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold'' In 1994, Weiland returned to feature films as the director of ''
City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold starring Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, Jon Lovitz and Jack Palance. The film was a sequel to the popular 1991 film City Slickers''. In the film, Billy Crystal's character discovers a treasure map and sets off with Lovitz and Stern to find the treasure of gold in the
Arizona desert.
Blackadder: Back & Forth In 2001, Weiland renewed his partnership with Rowan Atkinson, directing him in the British television film,
Blackadder: Back & Forth. The film is a time travel comedy in which Atkinson's character, Lord Blackadder, travels in a time machine to the
Jurassic period,
Sherwood Forest, and the
Battle of Waterloo.
Miranda Richardson,
Hugh Laurie,
Stephen Fry,
Colin Firth and
Kate Moss also appear in the film. Weiland was nominated for a
BAFTA TV Award for his direction of the film.
Sixty Six Weiland's 2006 feature film
Sixty Six is an autobiographical comedy-drama based on Weiland's
bar mitzvah which was held on the same night as
England's win over
West Germany in the
1966 FIFA World Cup final. As a result of the football match, guests cancelled en masse, and only a handful showed up at the bar mitzvah. The film received generally positive reviews.
The Guardian of London wrote that, "Despite the whimsical voice-over and gloopy, sentimental tone, it's a hard film to dislike and boasts a wonderfully lugubrious performance from
Eddie Marsan as the round-shouldered schlub of a dad."
Made of Honor Weiland directed the last screen appearance of
Sydney Pollack, in the 2008 feature
Made of Honor. ==Awards==