Doctor William 'Bill' Weir is the main (human) antagonist of Event Horizon. He is an Australian astrological engineer who designed the Event Horizon's gravity drive system.
Early Life[]
Weir was born in Canberra, Australia, in 2003. He lived most of his childhood years there. He attended college at Sydney University of Technology and Engineering.
The Event Horizon[]
After graduating from college, Dr. Weir obtained a job at DARPA in the space vehicle division. Weir engineered some of the reactor components used in the Ares Mining Site on Mars.
Hearing of his work, officials on Project New Horizon (the project in which the Event Horizon was created from) managed to get Weir on their team, where he would go on to design the gravity drive systems for the Event Horizon itself. The gravity drive would allow for an artificial gravity well (essentially a controlled black hole) to be created, pulling the ship in question to another point in space light-years away in a matter of seconds.
Tragedy[]
Weir and his wife
In early 2039, while working on the Event Horizon, Weir's wife Claire, whom he had married in 2034, committed suicide. The incident caused Weir great distress, as no one had any idea why she had done it, and Weir began to become more secretive and less charismatic, choosing to devote all of his time to the gravity drive systems.
The Event Horizon's Maiden Voyage[]
The Event Horizon was finally completed in 2040 and launched on its maiden voyage. The ship activated its gravity drive near Neptune and was pulled into the gravity well as intended. However, it did not return as expected, and the voyage was declared a failure. Weir blamed himself for the incident, and went into complete solitude, with no one hearing from him until 2047.
Role During the Film[]
Dr. Weir aboard the Event Horizon
When the Event Horizon mysteriously reappeared near Neptune, Weir came out of his solitude at the request of the USAC. He was then assigned to the rescue vessel Lewis and Clark, under command of Captain Miller, because of his expertise on the Event Horizon. Once underway, the crew of the Lewis and Clark prep for stasis.
Strangely, Weir has a vision of his late wife during stasis, which makes him uneasy. When the rest of the crew awaken from stasis, Weir explains the purpose of the gravity drive on the Event Horizon, much to the disbelief of the crew. The sensors then detect the Event Horizon in a decaying orbit.
After docking with the Event Horizon, Miller, Justin, and Peters go aboard. When Justin is pulled into the Hellish dimension, a shockwave travels throughout the Event Horizon and damages the Lewis and Clark. Weir, along with the others, is forced to abandon the Lewis and Clark and restore the environmental functions of the Event Horizon before their EVA suits fail.
After environmental functions are restored, Smith and Cooper go back to the Lewis and Clark to enact repairs. Weir begins experiencing the visions that affect the entire crew of the Lewis and Clark, appearing as his late wife with no eyes, who urges him to join her. Weir later finds Peters dead in the gravity core, where he experiences the worst vision yet, showing his wife kill herself and once again telling Weir to join her. Weir goes insane as a result.
He detonates the Lewis and Clark using some of the explosives on the Event Horizon, killing Smith inside and throwing Cooper out into space. Weir then gruesomely vivisects D.J, much to Miller's horror. Miller then finds Weir on the bridge, who has gouged his own eyes out, saying, "Where we're going, we won't need eyes to see." He then activates a ten-minute countdown, after which the gravity drive will active, as he was determined to send the new crew to the Hellish dimension. When he hears Cooper outside the ship, he shoots out the glass and the bridge rapidly decompresses. Weir is flung out into space while the other three members of the Lewis and Clark's crew manage to seal off the bridge. It is presumed that he died there.
Weir reappears in the burning gravity drive core, most likely as the embodiment of the ship itself. He appears scarred and burned with his eyes restored, and he is still determined to stop the crew from escaping. He viciously beats Miller and shows him visions of the Lewis and Clark's crew being horribly tortured. As he is about to kill Miller, Miller presses the detonator, splitting the Event Horizon in half. The forward section carrying Starck, Cooper, and Justin escapes while the drive section carrying Miller and Weir is pulled into the Hellish dimension once again.
Trivia[]
- Weir is the main human antagonist of Event Horizon.
- Aside from Dr. Alan Grant from Jurassic Park, Weir is one of the most recognizable roles of Sam Neill.
- Weir's scarred form is probably not Weir himself, as Weir was pulled out into space, but most likely the embodiment of the Event Horizon itself. The original script confirms this point of view even more.
- In the movie, the only character that calls him by the name "Billy" is his wife, Claire.