Two New Films Coming from Steven Soderbergh
Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 8:28PM by Nathaniel R
Steven Soderbergh is a liar. He "retired" around the time of Side Effects / Behind the Candelabra (2013) and has since made two feature films and two TV series. Ha ha. That kind of lie we like. Good filmmakers should never retire. They should hold cameras in their hands until they drop. At any rate, add two more films to Soderbergh's huge resume. That's four films since retiring 5 years ago. Teehee...
He's already finished something called High Flying Bird about a sports agent (André Holland) who gets a rookie player involved in a controversial deal. The cast also includes Bill Duke, Zazie Beetz, Zachary Quinto and Kyle Maclachlan. The film is written by Moonlight scribe Tarell Alvin McCraney! He shot it on an iPhone as he did with Unsane and he had the first cut down two and half hours after filming wrapped. LOL
Picture wrap on HIGH FLYING BIRD at 1:09pm. First cut complete at 3:41pm. pic.twitter.com/GXIEZICHYg
— Bitchuation (@Bitchuation) March 15, 2018
And at any moment he's starting (just started?) production of The Laundromat for Netflix. The Laundromat has been kicking around for a while as a project but with Netflix backing it, it's green light and go with that all-star cast: Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, David Schwimmer, Will Forte, plus Soderbergh alums Antonio Banderas and Riley Keough. It's not about an actual laundromat but about money laundering by the wealthy. It's based on the book Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite. Sounds fairly heavy, depressing, and dry... and the title definitely makes you think "documentary!"
Here's a cryptic tweet from the filmmaker about The Laundromat
What does this location have to do with THE LAUNDROMAT movie? Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/6HCsqGQ0Oh
— Bitchuation (@Bitchuation) September 26, 2018
Though I'm always hoping Meryl Streep will work with great directors, I find her more political films (Manchurian Candidate, Lions for Lambs, Rendition, Iron Lady...) to be her very worst films (The Post excepted) so hoping she dodges that quality bullet this time because Soderbergh is, like all of the insanely prolific directors (think Eastwood, Allen) a hit & miss proposition. Anyway, I'm dying for Streep to do like a modest family drama or a romantic comedy again... something that's all about the character work rather than a message, like a What They Had or another It's Complicated.
Reader Comments (15)
2 new Soderbergh films coming next year! Oh, that is just too.... SWEET!!!!!!
I saw almost all of his filmography and it's quite sad I've only liked Solaris. Streep shouldn't accept roles from directors who peaked at the aughts and whose films are beyond outdated (even more so than older films. Am I alone in this?) and are only products of their time. She should work with non-US auteurs (Steve McQueen, Michael Haneke, Yorgos Lanthimos, Wong Kar-wai, one of the Three Amigos, etc) to prove she actually challenges herself. Obviously taking in consideration that any of them would care enough to offer her a role (I think it comes more from their side, which I wouldn't criticize in the slightest).
He's definitely hit-or-miss, but he's had several high points ... Sex, Lies and Videotape, Out of Sight, Erin Brockovich, Ocean's Eleven, and Magic Mike are all good films, I think. There's many that I haven't seen, in fairness. The films I've his I've liked are very well-crafted--he does commercial fare with a nice, light touch.
Thanks Nathaniel!
My guess is that after this movie Streep will take her usual break from films. Ended 1999 with music of the Heart and returned in 2002 with Adaptation. Ended 2009 with It’s complicated and then returned in 2011 with The Iron Lady. Hope I am wrong.
Even thought there was small tidbit of news in Marie Claire with Sharon Stone talking about aproject with Streep and Scorsese?!
I think we should be happy that Streep is going to work with an A-List director and a wonderful group of actors AND she's getting the meatiest role in the picture. She's almost 70 and she's now working with Spielberg, Soderbergh and Gerwig. Most of the other projects where women of her age are involved are B movies that nobody sees. Meryl still holds the bar high.
Lol- the Iron Lady isn’t great but it’s far from her worst Nat, surely.
She made me hate Thatcher even more than I did and that’s quite an accomplishment, given how much I love Meryl.
So you don't consider Silkwood a political film? Interesting.
I was hyped about High Flying Bird until I learned it was shot on iPhone. I'm aware Tangerine has its fans, but I wasnt one of them, and Unsane was the worst-looking movie I've seen all year.
@Me34 We can only wish. What Kidman, Colman, and Huppert have been doing lately is amaze-balls.
TIL is not that political. It's mainly just a portrait of an infamous politician.
The Post was on another level because Spielberg simply knows how to do political films and films in general.
I really loved Behind the Candelabra! M.Douglas would have been a great Oscar winner, if FILM Studios dared to produce it. *sigh*
Didn't his ass retire?
Me34 you sound insufferable.
Meryl should retire at once and leave us the fuck alone
Good Grief folks! Streep can do whatever film she wants or work with whoever she wants. Think she has earned it and I just glad she is still finding roles for her age in projects that she feels are important.and working
Take a pill, Mamie.