Steven Soderbergh
Encyclopedia
Steven Andrew Soderbergh (ˈsoʊdərbɜrɡ; born January 14, 1963) is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer
, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich
, Traffic
, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven
, but he has also directed smaller less conventional and commercialized works such as Sex, Lies, and Videotape
, Schizopolis
, Bubble
, Solaris
, and Che
.
, where his father became Dean of Education at Louisiana State University
(LSU). There he discovered filmmaking as a teenager, directing short Super 8 mm film
s with equipment borrowed from LSU students.
His primary high school education was at Louisiana State University Laboratory School, a K-12 school that is directed by the University. While still taking classes there around the age of fifteen, Soderbergh enrolled in the university's film animation class and began making short 16 mm films with secondhand equipment.
Rather than attending LSU, Soderbergh tried his luck in Hollywood after graduating from high school; he worked as a game show scorer and cue card holder to make ends meet, and eventually found work as a freelance film editor.
His big break came when he directed the Grammy
-nominated concert video 9012Live
for the rock band Yes
in 1985.
(1989), which he wrote in eight days. The independent film won the Palme d'Or
at the Cannes Film Festival
, became a worldwide commercial success and greatly contributed to the 1990s independent film
revolution. At age 26, Soderbergh became the youngest director to win the festival's top award. Movie critic Roger Ebert
dubbed Soderbergh the "poster boy of the Sundance generation".
, a biopic mixing fact and Kafka's own fiction (notably The Castle and The Trial
), written by Lem Dobbs
and starring Jeremy Irons
as Franz Kafka
; King of the Hill
(1993), a critically acclaimed Depression
-era drama; The Underneath (1995), a remake of Robert Siodmak
's 1949 film noir Criss Cross
; and Schizopolis
(1996), a comedy which he starred in, wrote, composed, and shot as well as directed. He also directed the Spalding Gray
monologue film Gray's Anatomy in 1996.
Making good on his Schizopolis-inspired "artistic wake-up call", his commercial slump ended in 1998 with Out of Sight
, a stylized adaptation of an Elmore Leonard
novel, written by Scott Frank
and starring George Clooney
and Jennifer Lopez
.
The film was widely praised, though only a moderate box-office success. It reaffirmed Soderbergh's potential, sparking the beginnings of a lucrative artistic partnership between Clooney and Soderbergh.
(1999), from an original screenplay by Lem Dobbs
and starring veteran actors Terence Stamp
and Peter Fonda
. The film was well-received, but not as much as Erin Brockovich
(2000), written by Susannah Grant
and starring Julia Roberts
in her Oscar-winning role as a single mother taking on industry in a civil action.
Later that year, Soderbergh released Traffic
, a social drama written by Stephen Gaghan
and featuring an ensemble cast.
Traffic became his most acclaimed movie since Sex, Lies, and Videotape, and earned him an Academy Award for Best Director
. He was also nominated that same year for Erin Brockovich. He is the only director to have been nominated in the same year for Best Director for two different films by the Academy Awards
, the Golden Globes and the Directors Guild of America
. The double nomination was the first in 60 years. (In 1938, Michael Curtiz
was nominated twice, for Angels with Dirty Faces
and Four Daughters
, but did not win for either film.)
Ocean's Eleven
(2001), a remake from a Rat Pack
-movie from 1960, featuring an all-star cast and flashy aesthetics, is Soderbergh's highest grossing movie to date, grossing more than $183 million domestically and more than $450 million worldwide.
The film's star, George Clooney
, subsequently appeared in Solaris
(2002), marking the third time the two have headlined a film. In the same year, Soderbergh made Full Frontal
which was shot mostly on digital video in an improvisional style that deliberately blurred the line between which actors were playing characters and which were playing fictionized versions of themselves. A film within a film, the title is a film industry reference to an actor or actress appearing fully nude (a.k.a., "full frontal nudity"). Also in 2002, Soderbergh was elected First Vice President of the Directors Guild of America
.
Following up Full Frontal
stylistically was Soderbergh next project, K Street
(2003), a ten-part political HBO series he co-produced with Clooney. The series was noteworthy for being both partially improvised and each episode being produced in the 5 days prior to airing to take advantage of topical events that could be worked into the fictional narrative. Actual political players appeared as themselves, either in cameos or fictionalized versions of themselves (as were the leads, real life husband and wife James Carville
and Mary Matalin
). The show caused a stir during the 2004 Democratic Primary when Carville gave candidate Howard Dean
a soundbite during a location shoot that Dean then used in a debate.
Ocean's Twelve
(2004), a sequel to Ocean's Eleven, has followed. The Good German
, a romantic drama set in post-war Berlin starring Cate Blanchett
and Clooney, was released in late 2006. The sixth pairing of Clooney and Soderbergh, Ocean's Thirteen
, was released in June 2007.
, a $1.6 million film featuring a cast of nonprofessional actors. It opened in selected theaters and HDNet
simultaneously, and four days later on DVD. Industry heads were reportedly watching how the film performed, as its unusual release schedule could have implications for future feature films.
Theater-owners, who at the time had been suffering from dropping attendance rates, did not welcome so-called "day-and-date" movies.
National Association of Theatre Owners president and CEO John Fithian indirectly called the film's release model "the biggest threat to the viability of the cinema industry today."
Soderbergh's response to such criticism: "I don't think it's going to destroy the movie-going experience any more than the ability to get takeout has destroyed the restaurant business." The film did poor business both at the box office and on the home video market.
Nevertheless, Soderbergh is on contract to deliver five more day-and-date movies. In fall of 2006 he contributed a mini-essay on hotel pornography, along with an accompanying series of long-exposure photographs, to Anthem magazine's November/December issue.
In 2007, Soderbergh and Tony Gilroy
contributed an audio commentary to the DVD re-release of The Third Man
by the Criterion Collection.
On May 22, 2008, Che, which was released in theatres in two parts titled The Argentine and Guerrilla, was presented in the main competition of the 2008 Cannes film festival. Benicio del Toro
plays Argentine guerrilla Ernesto "Che" Guevara
in an epic four-hour double bill which looks first at his role in the Cuban revolution before moving to his campaign and eventual death in Bolivia.
Soderbergh shot his feature film The Girlfriend Experience
in New York in 2008. The film's lead actress is adult film star Sasha Grey
.
His next film was 2009's The Informant! a black comedy starring Matt Damon as corporate whistleblower
Mark Whitacre
. Whitacre wore a wire for two and a half years for the FBI as a high-level executive at a Fortune 500
company, Archer Daniels Midland
(ADM), in one of the largest price-fixing cases in history.
The film was released on September 18, 2009. The script for the movie was written by Scott Z. Burns based on Kurt Eichenwald
's book, The Informant.
In 2009, Soderbergh directed a play titled Tot-Mom for the Sydney Theatre Company
in Sydney, Australia. The play is based on the real-life case of Caylee Anthony. Rehearsals commenced in early November 2009, and the production opened December 2009. Soderbergh also shot a small improvised film with the cast of the play, The Last Time I Saw Michael Gregg, a comedy about a theatre company staging Chekhov's Three Sisters.
He followed that with the action-thriller Haywire
starring Gina Carano
, Ewan McGregor
, Michael Fassbender
and Channing Tatum
which, though shot in early 2010, will not be released until 2012.
In the fall of 2010, he shot the epic virus thriller Contagion
, written by Scott Z. Burns
. With a star-studded cast including Matt Damon
, Kate Winslet
, Gwyneth Paltrow
, Laurence Fishburne
, Marion Cotillard
and Jude Law
, the film follows the outbreak of a lethal pandemic across the globe and the efforts of doctors and scientists to discover the cause and develop a cure. It was released on September 9, 2011.
He is currently shooting Magic Mike
, a film starring Channing Tatum
about the actor's own experiences working as a male stripper in his youth. Tatum will play the title mentor character, while Alex Pettyfer
will play a character based on Tatum.
Soderbergh had planned to follow this in early 2012 with a feature version of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
, also written by Scott Z. Burns
. The film was set to reunite him with George Clooney
, but Clooney had to drop out of the film due to a recurring back injury suffered while filming Syriana
. As of November 2011, Soderbergh had dropped out of the film due to budget and casting conflicts.
Behind the Candelabra, his final film, is set to shoot in the Summer of 2012. It will star Michael Douglas as legendarily flamboyant pianist Liberace
and Matt Damon as his lover Scott Thorson
. The film is written by Richard LaGravenese
, based on Thorson's book Behind the Candelabra: My Life With Liberace. It will be produced by HBO Films
.
Soderbergh has announced in numerous interviews his intention to retire from filmmaking after finishing these three films to focus on his painting full-time. He stated that "when you reach the point where you're saying, 'If I have to get into a van to do another scout, I'm just going to shoot myself,' it's time to let somebody who's still excited about getting in the van, get the van." Soderbergh later confirmed that he would retire from filmmaking and begin to explore painting. A few weeks later, Soderbergh played down his earlier comments, saying a film-making "sabbatical" was more accurate.
and Demetri Martin
. The book, by Michael Lewis
, tells of how Billy Beane
, general manager of Oakland Athletics
, used statistical analysis to make up for what he lacked in funds to beat the odds and lead his team to a series of notable wins in 2002. Disagreements between Sony and Soderbergh about revisions to Steven Zaillian
's version of the screenplay led to the project being canceled only days prior to filming in June 2009. The move, unprecedented in recent history, sent shockwaves through the industry. The film was eventually made by director Bennett Miller
, with a script rewritten by Aaron Sorkin
.
Around the same time, he planned a 3-D live-action rock musical film based on Cleopatra's life entitled "Cleo", with Catherine Zeta-Jones
in talks to play Cleopatra, and with music by the band Guided by Voices
. Soderbergh and scriptwriter James Greer
were said to be rewriting the lyrics of the songs to fit the story.
Hugh Jackman
was approached to play Mark Antony
but withdrew.
He also worked for a time with writer Scott Z. Burns
on a biopic of controversial Nazi-era film director Leni Riefenstahl
, but he and Burns ended up abandoning that script as too uncommercial, making Contagion
instead.
"I've always gotten along with them," says Soderbergh of actors, "I try and make sure they're OK, and when they're in the zone, I leave them alone. I don't get in their way." His non-intrusive directorial style has attracted repeat performances by many high-profile movie stars.
Julia Roberts had supporting roles in Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, and Full Frontal, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress
for her lead in Erin Brockovich. Benicio del Toro
, who also won an Academy Award for his work in a Soderbergh film (Traffic), later starred in Guerrilla and The Argentine. Catherine Zeta-Jones won a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of Helena in Traffic (2000) and reteamed with him for box-office hit Ocean's Twelve (2004). But the actor he has collaborated most frequently with is George Clooney, who played the leading role six of his films, and with whom he co-owned the film production company, Section Eight Productions
. Section Eight produced the critical hits Far From Heaven
, Insomnia
, and Syriana
as well as the Clooney-directed films Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
and Good Night, and Good Luck.
Soderbergh often acts as his own director of photography under the alias of Peter Andrews and occasionally as his own editor under the alias of Mary Ann Bernard. While shooting Traffic, Soderbergh wanted a credit of "Photographed and Directed by". The Writer's Guild (WGA) wouldn't allow another credit ahead of the writer. Because Soderbergh didn't want his name used more than once, he adopted a pseudonym, Peter Andrews, his father's first and middle names.
Soderbergh often utilizes Cliff Martinez
to construct/compose the soundtracks to his movies, and when not cutting his own films, he relies on editor Stephen Mirrione
.
named Soderbergh "the Michael Jordan
of filmmaking" for his ability to assume so many distinct roles in film production.
While Soderbergh is enamoured of dialogue, Soderbergh's incorporation of score and montage are equally prevalent in his story-telling. Even Soderbergh's light-hearted affairs, such as Out of Sight
and Ocean's 11, contain scenes where images and score are the dominant story-telling mechanisms. Films such as Solaris and Traffic are heavily layered in scenes absent of dialogue altogether. Cliff Martinez
, a frequent collaborator with Soderbergh, composes many of the scores that provide Soderbergh with the thematic and sonic landscapes into which he inserts his characters.
But while Soderbergh's subject matter is highly varied, many of his films feature as a central theme the exploration of the act or moral consequences of lying. For example, the protagonists in two early films, King of the Hill and Sex, Lies, and Videotape, are both pathological liars (one in training, one in recovery), while most of the characters in all three Oceans films are con artists. It is interesting to note that he directed Spalding Gray
in Gray's Anatomy
after King of the Hill, an actor who often commented that he was unable to "make anything up". Full Frontal is another film in this thread, where seemingly the fundamental dishonesty of the entire filmmaking process is exposed. More distantly, Soderbergh's interest in rhyming slang, as seen in The Limey and the Oceans films, may be seen as part of this theme, based on the conjectured origin of rhyming slang as a language game.
In his review of Full Frontal
film critic Roger Ebert
commented that, "Every once in a while, perhaps as an exercise in humility, Steven Soderbergh makes a truly inexplicable film... A film so amateurish that only the professionalism of some of the actors makes it watchable... It's the kind of film where you need the director telling you what he meant to do and what went wrong and how the actors screwed up and how there was no money for retakes, etc." About Soderbergh's film, The Good German
and his emphasis on style over substance, film critic Richard Roeper
commented that the film had to offer, "a lot of style. Not so much with the plot."
Soderbergh has, nonetheless, been dubbed a stylistic chameleon by Anne Thompson of Premiere Magazine. Drew Morton has extensively researched Soderbergh and has tied him to a modern movement much like the French New Wave
.
Soderbergh also has a track record of honorable contributions in the cinematic arts; when the papers of Terry Southern were potentially in limbo following his untimely death in 1995, Soderbergh purchased and then donated the papers to the New York Public Library. Naqoyqatsi, the final chapter of the Qatsi trilogy, was completed after a delay of more than 10 years, only after Soderbergh stepped in to provide the necessary funding.
s, and prefers not to have his name front and center at the start of a film. "The fact that I'm not an identifiable brand is very freeing," says Soderbergh, "because people get tired of brands and they switch brands. I've never had a desire to be out in front of anything, which is why I don't take a possessory credit."
On Monday, April 5, 2009, Soderbergh appeared before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, and "cited the French initiative in asking lawmakers to deputize the American film industry to pursue copyright pirates", indicating he supports anti-piracy laws and internet regulation.
, whom he often credits for influencing his female characters. Soderbergh claims he no longer reads reviews of his movies. "After Traffic I just stopped completely", says the director. "After winning the LA and New York film critics awards, I really felt like, this can only get worse". Stephen has a daughter, Sarah Soderbergh with his first wife, Betsy Brantley
. He also has a daughter, Pearl Button Anderson, born August 2010, from an extramarital affair with Australian Frances Anderson.
Soderbergh lives in New York City
. He is an atheist.
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich
Erin Brockovich (film)
Erin Brockovich is a 2000 biographical film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film is a dramatization of the story of Erin Brockovich, played by Julia Roberts, who fought against the US West Coast energy corporation Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Roberts won the Academy Award, Golden Globe,...
, Traffic
Traffic (2000 film)
Traffic is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although some of the...
, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven
Ocean's Eleven (2001 film)
Ocean's Eleven is a 2001 American comedy-crime caper and remake of the 1960 Rat Pack caper film of the same name. The 2001 film was directed by Steven Soderbergh and features an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Andy García, and Julia Roberts. The film was...
, but he has also directed smaller less conventional and commercialized works such as Sex, Lies, and Videotape
Sex, lies, and videotape
Sex, Lies, and Videotape is a 1989 independent film that brought director Steven Soderbergh to prominence. It tells the story of a man who films women discussing their sexuality, and his impact on the relationship of a troubled married couple....
, Schizopolis
Schizopolis
Schizopolis is an experimental comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh in 1996 with a non-linear narrative.-Synopsis:...
, Bubble
Bubble (film)
Bubble is a movie directed by Steven Soderbergh. It was shot on high-definition video and was made for a relatively small budget of $1.6 million. It also featured some unusual production aspects.In traditional terms, the movie has no script...
, Solaris
Solaris (2002 film)
Solaris is a 2002 science fiction film and psychological drama directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney and Natascha McElhone...
, and Che
Che (film)
Che is a two-part 2008 biopic about Ernesto 'Che' Guevara directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro. Rather than follow a standard chronological order, the films offer an oblique series of interspersed moments along the overall timeline...
.
Early life and career
Soderbergh was born in Atlanta, the son of Mary Ann (née Bernard) and Peter Andrew Soderbergh, who was a university administrator and educator. When he was a child, his family moved from Atlanta to Baton Rouge, LouisianaBaton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
, where his father became Dean of Education at Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
(LSU). There he discovered filmmaking as a teenager, directing short Super 8 mm film
Super 8 mm film
Super 8 mm film is a motion picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement of the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format....
s with equipment borrowed from LSU students.
His primary high school education was at Louisiana State University Laboratory School, a K-12 school that is directed by the University. While still taking classes there around the age of fifteen, Soderbergh enrolled in the university's film animation class and began making short 16 mm films with secondhand equipment.
Rather than attending LSU, Soderbergh tried his luck in Hollywood after graduating from high school; he worked as a game show scorer and cue card holder to make ends meet, and eventually found work as a freelance film editor.
His big break came when he directed the Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-nominated concert video 9012Live
9012Live (video)
9012Live is the video release of a concert by the progressive rock group Yes recorded live at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, Canada, on September 28 and 29, 1984. It mostly features material from the band's reunion album 90125, which was a major success for the band. The 1984-1985 tour was the...
for the rock band Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
in 1985.
1989 Rise to prominence: Sex, Lies, and Videotape
It wasn't until Soderbergh came back to Baton Rouge that he conceived the idea for Sex, Lies, and VideotapeSex, lies, and videotape
Sex, Lies, and Videotape is a 1989 independent film that brought director Steven Soderbergh to prominence. It tells the story of a man who films women discussing their sexuality, and his impact on the relationship of a troubled married couple....
(1989), which he wrote in eight days. The independent film won the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, became a worldwide commercial success and greatly contributed to the 1990s independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
revolution. At age 26, Soderbergh became the youngest director to win the festival's top award. Movie critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
dubbed Soderbergh the "poster boy of the Sundance generation".
1993 to 1998
Sex, Lies, and Videotape was followed by a series of low-budget box-office disappointments: KafkaKafka (film)
Kafka is a 1991 mystery thriller film directed by Steven Soderbergh. Ostensibly a biopic, based on the life of Franz Kafka, the film blurs the lines between fact and Kafka's fiction , creating a Kafkaesque atmosphere...
, a biopic mixing fact and Kafka's own fiction (notably The Castle and The Trial
The Trial
The Trial is a novel by Franz Kafka, first published in 1925. One of Kafka's best-known works, it tells the story of a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, with the nature of his crime revealed neither to him nor the reader.Like Kafka's other novels, The Trial was never...
), written by Lem Dobbs
Lem Dobbs
Lem Dobbs is a British-American screenwriter, best known for the film The Limey. He is the son of the late painter, R.B. Kitaj...
and starring Jeremy Irons
Jeremy Irons
Jeremy John Irons is an English actor. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969, and has since appeared in many London theatre productions including The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the...
as Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
; King of the Hill
King of the Hill (film)
King of the Hill is a 1993 film, Steven Soderbergh's third feature film, and the second he directed from his own screenplay following his 1989 Palme d'Or-winning effort sex, lies, and videotape. It too was nominated for the Palme d'Or, at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.-Production:Based on the...
(1993), a critically acclaimed Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
-era drama; The Underneath (1995), a remake of Robert Siodmak
Robert Siodmak
Robert Siodmak was a German born American film director. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for the series of Hollywood film noirs he made in the 1940s.-Early life:...
's 1949 film noir Criss Cross
Criss Cross (1949 film)
Criss Cross is a 1949 film noir, directed by Robert Siodmak from a novel of the same name by Don Tracy. This black-and-white film was shot partly on location in the Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles. The film was written by Daniel Fuchs. Franz Planer's cinematography creates a black-and-white...
; and Schizopolis
Schizopolis
Schizopolis is an experimental comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh in 1996 with a non-linear narrative.-Synopsis:...
(1996), a comedy which he starred in, wrote, composed, and shot as well as directed. He also directed the Spalding Gray
Spalding Gray
Spalding Rockwell Gray was an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, performance artist and monologuist...
monologue film Gray's Anatomy in 1996.
Making good on his Schizopolis-inspired "artistic wake-up call", his commercial slump ended in 1998 with Out of Sight
Out of Sight
Out of Sight is a 1998 American crime film. The film was directed by Steven Soderbergh and based on the novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard. It was the first of several collaborations between Soderbergh and star George Clooney. The film was released on June 26, 1998. It was nominated for two...
, a stylized adaptation of an Elmore Leonard
Elmore Leonard
Elmore John Leonard Jr. , better known as Elmore Leonard, is an American novelist and screenwriter. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.Among his...
novel, written by Scott Frank
Scott Frank
Scott Frank is an American screenwriter & director.- Filmography :*Plain Clothes *Dead Again *Little Man Tate *Malice *Get Shorty...
and starring George Clooney
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...
and Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
.
The film was widely praised, though only a moderate box-office success. It reaffirmed Soderbergh's potential, sparking the beginnings of a lucrative artistic partnership between Clooney and Soderbergh.
1999 and 2000
Soderbergh followed up on the success of Out of Sight by making another crime caper, The LimeyThe Limey
The Limey is a 1999 American crime film, directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Lem Dobbs. The film features Terence Stamp, Lesley Ann Warren, Luis Guzmán, Peter Fonda and Barry Newman.Filming locations included Big Sur and L.A.-Plot:...
(1999), from an original screenplay by Lem Dobbs
Lem Dobbs
Lem Dobbs is a British-American screenwriter, best known for the film The Limey. He is the son of the late painter, R.B. Kitaj...
and starring veteran actors Terence Stamp
Terence Stamp
Terence Henry Stamp is an English actor. Since starting his career in 1962 he has appeared in over 60 films. His title role as Billy Budd in his film debut earned Stamp an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA nomination for Best Newcomer.His other major roles include...
and Peter Fonda
Peter Fonda
Peter Henry Fonda is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda...
. The film was well-received, but not as much as Erin Brockovich
Erin Brockovich (film)
Erin Brockovich is a 2000 biographical film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film is a dramatization of the story of Erin Brockovich, played by Julia Roberts, who fought against the US West Coast energy corporation Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Roberts won the Academy Award, Golden Globe,...
(2000), written by Susannah Grant
Susannah Grant
Susannah Grant is an award-winning American screenwriter and director. She wrote the screenplays for Ever After, Erin Brockovich, directed by Steven Soderbergh, 28 Days and Disney's Pocahontas. For Erin Brockovich she received an Oscar nomination in 2001...
and starring Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts
Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman , which grossed $464 million worldwide...
in her Oscar-winning role as a single mother taking on industry in a civil action.
Later that year, Soderbergh released Traffic
Traffic (2000 film)
Traffic is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although some of the...
, a social drama written by Stephen Gaghan
Stephen Gaghan
Stephen Gaghan is an American screenwriter and director. He is noted for writing the screenplay for Steven Soderbergh's film Traffic, based on a Channel 4 series, for which he won the Academy Award, as well as Syriana which he wrote and directed.-Childhood and education:Born in either Louisville,...
and featuring an ensemble cast.
Traffic became his most acclaimed movie since Sex, Lies, and Videotape, and earned him an Academy Award for Best Director
Academy Award for Directing
The Academy Award for Achievement in Directing , usually known as the Best Director Oscar, is one of the Awards of Merit presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to directors working in the motion picture industry...
. He was also nominated that same year for Erin Brockovich. He is the only director to have been nominated in the same year for Best Director for two different films by the Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
, the Golden Globes and the Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
. The double nomination was the first in 60 years. (In 1938, Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz was an Academy award winning Hungarian-American film director. He had early creditsas Mihály Kertész and Michael Kertész...
was nominated twice, for Angels with Dirty Faces
Angels with Dirty Faces
Angels with Dirty Faces is a 1938 American gangster film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, the Dead End Kids and Humphrey Bogart, along with Ann Sheridan and George Bancroft...
and Four Daughters
Four Daughters
Four Daughters is a 1938 musical drama film that tells the story of a happy musical family whose lives and loves are disrupted by the arrival of a cynical young composer who interjects himself into the daughters' romantic lives...
, but did not win for either film.)
2001 to 2007
Ocean's Eleven (2001 film)
Ocean's Eleven is a 2001 American comedy-crime caper and remake of the 1960 Rat Pack caper film of the same name. The 2001 film was directed by Steven Soderbergh and features an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Andy García, and Julia Roberts. The film was...
(2001), a remake from a Rat Pack
Rat Pack
The Rat Pack was a group of actors originally centered on Humphrey Bogart. In the mid-1960s it was the name used by the press and the general public to refer to a later variation of the group, after Bogart's death, that called itself "the summit" or "the clan," featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean...
-movie from 1960, featuring an all-star cast and flashy aesthetics, is Soderbergh's highest grossing movie to date, grossing more than $183 million domestically and more than $450 million worldwide.
The film's star, George Clooney
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...
, subsequently appeared in Solaris
Solaris (2002 film)
Solaris is a 2002 science fiction film and psychological drama directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney and Natascha McElhone...
(2002), marking the third time the two have headlined a film. In the same year, Soderbergh made Full Frontal
Full Frontal (film)
Full Frontal is a 2002 film by Steven Soderbergh, about a day in the life of people in Hollywood. The film, starring Catherine Keener, David Duchovny, Julia Roberts, Mary McCormack and David Hyde Pierce was shot on digital video in under a month using the Canon XL-1s...
which was shot mostly on digital video in an improvisional style that deliberately blurred the line between which actors were playing characters and which were playing fictionized versions of themselves. A film within a film, the title is a film industry reference to an actor or actress appearing fully nude (a.k.a., "full frontal nudity"). Also in 2002, Soderbergh was elected First Vice President of the Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
.
Following up Full Frontal
Full Frontal (film)
Full Frontal is a 2002 film by Steven Soderbergh, about a day in the life of people in Hollywood. The film, starring Catherine Keener, David Duchovny, Julia Roberts, Mary McCormack and David Hyde Pierce was shot on digital video in under a month using the Canon XL-1s...
stylistically was Soderbergh next project, K Street
K Street (TV series)
K Street is a 2003 HBO television series about lobbyists and politicians in Washington, D.C. It was named for a street that is home to many lobbying and legal firms.-Format:...
(2003), a ten-part political HBO series he co-produced with Clooney. The series was noteworthy for being both partially improvised and each episode being produced in the 5 days prior to airing to take advantage of topical events that could be worked into the fictional narrative. Actual political players appeared as themselves, either in cameos or fictionalized versions of themselves (as were the leads, real life husband and wife James Carville
James Carville
Chester James Carville, Jr. is an American political consultant, commentator, educator, actor, attorney, media personality, and prominent liberal pundit. Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill...
and Mary Matalin
Mary Matalin
Mary Joe Matalin is an American political consultant, well known for her work with the Republican Party. She was an assistant to President George W. Bush and counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney until 2003. Matalin has been chief editor of Threshold Editions, a conservative publishing imprint...
). The show caused a stir during the 2004 Democratic Primary when Carville gave candidate Howard Dean
Howard Dean
Howard Brush Dean III is an American politician and physician from Vermont. He served six terms as the 79th Governor of Vermont and ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Although his U.S...
a soundbite during a location shoot that Dean then used in a debate.
Ocean's Twelve
Ocean's Twelve
Ocean's Twelve is a 2004 American crime comedy film, the sequel to 2001's Ocean's Eleven. Like its predecessor, which was a remake of the 1960 film Ocean's 11, the film used a celebrity ensemble cast. It was released in the United States on December 10, 2004. A third film, Ocean's Thirteen, was...
(2004), a sequel to Ocean's Eleven, has followed. The Good German
The Good German
The Good German is a 2006 feature film adaptation of the novel by Joseph Kanon. It was directed by Steven Soderbergh, and stars George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire...
, a romantic drama set in post-war Berlin starring Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
and Clooney, was released in late 2006. The sixth pairing of Clooney and Soderbergh, Ocean's Thirteen
Ocean's Thirteen
Ocean's Thirteen is a 2007 crime comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring an ensemble cast. It is the third and final film in the Soderbergh series following the 2004 sequel Ocean's Twelve and the 2001 film Ocean's Eleven, which itself was a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film Ocean's 11...
, was released in June 2007.
Latest work
In 2006, Soderbergh raised eyebrows with BubbleBubble (film)
Bubble is a movie directed by Steven Soderbergh. It was shot on high-definition video and was made for a relatively small budget of $1.6 million. It also featured some unusual production aspects.In traditional terms, the movie has no script...
, a $1.6 million film featuring a cast of nonprofessional actors. It opened in selected theaters and HDNet
HDNet
HDNet is a men's interest television channel in the United States, broadcasting exclusively in high-definition format and available via cable and satellite television...
simultaneously, and four days later on DVD. Industry heads were reportedly watching how the film performed, as its unusual release schedule could have implications for future feature films.
Theater-owners, who at the time had been suffering from dropping attendance rates, did not welcome so-called "day-and-date" movies.
National Association of Theatre Owners president and CEO John Fithian indirectly called the film's release model "the biggest threat to the viability of the cinema industry today."
Soderbergh's response to such criticism: "I don't think it's going to destroy the movie-going experience any more than the ability to get takeout has destroyed the restaurant business." The film did poor business both at the box office and on the home video market.
Nevertheless, Soderbergh is on contract to deliver five more day-and-date movies. In fall of 2006 he contributed a mini-essay on hotel pornography, along with an accompanying series of long-exposure photographs, to Anthem magazine's November/December issue.
In 2007, Soderbergh and Tony Gilroy
Tony Gilroy
Anthony Joseph "Tony" Gilroy is an American screenwriter and filmmaker. He wrote the screenplays for the Bourne series starring Matt Damon, among other successful films. He has been nominated for Academy Awards for his direction and script for Michael Clayton, starring George Clooney...
contributed an audio commentary to the DVD re-release of The Third Man
The Third Man
The Third Man is a 1949 British film noir, directed by Carol Reed and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Many critics rank it as a masterpiece, particularly remembered for its atmospheric cinematography, performances, and unique musical score...
by the Criterion Collection.
On May 22, 2008, Che, which was released in theatres in two parts titled The Argentine and Guerrilla, was presented in the main competition of the 2008 Cannes film festival. Benicio del Toro
Benicio del Toro
Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez is a Puerto Rican and Spanish actor and film producer. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA Award for his role as Javier Rodríguez in Traffic . He is also known for his roles as Fred Fenster in The Usual...
plays Argentine guerrilla Ernesto "Che" Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
in an epic four-hour double bill which looks first at his role in the Cuban revolution before moving to his campaign and eventual death in Bolivia.
Soderbergh shot his feature film The Girlfriend Experience
The Girlfriend Experience
The Girlfriend Experience is a 2009 experimental drama film shot in New York City. It is directed by Steven Soderbergh and stars then-active porn star Sasha Grey. A rough cut was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. The film has also been made available on Amazon Video on Demand...
in New York in 2008. The film's lead actress is adult film star Sasha Grey
Sasha Grey
Sasha Grey is an American former pornographic actress, who has since turned to mainstream acting, modeling and music....
.
His next film was 2009's The Informant! a black comedy starring Matt Damon as corporate whistleblower
Whistleblower
A whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...
Mark Whitacre
Mark Whitacre
Mark Edward Whitacre came to public attention in 1995 when, as president of the BioProducts Division at Archer Daniels Midland , he was the highest-level corporate executive in U.S. history to become a Federal Bureau of Investigation whistleblower...
. Whitacre wore a wire for two and a half years for the FBI as a high-level executive at a Fortune 500
Fortune 500
The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...
company, Archer Daniels Midland
Archer Daniels Midland
The Archer Daniels Midland Company is a conglomerate headquartered in Decatur, Illinois. ADM operates more than 270 plants worldwide, where cereal grains and oilseeds are processed into products used in food, beverage, nutraceutical, industrial and animal feed markets worldwide.ADM was named the...
(ADM), in one of the largest price-fixing cases in history.
The film was released on September 18, 2009. The script for the movie was written by Scott Z. Burns based on Kurt Eichenwald
Kurt Eichenwald
Kurt Alexander Eichenwald , an American writer and investigative reporter formerly with The New York Times and later with Condé Nast's business magazine, Portfolio...
's book, The Informant.
In 2009, Soderbergh directed a play titled Tot-Mom for the Sydney Theatre Company
Sydney Theatre Company
The Sydney Theatre Company is one of Australia's best-known theatre companies operating from The Wharf Theatre near The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Sydney Theatre and the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre....
in Sydney, Australia. The play is based on the real-life case of Caylee Anthony. Rehearsals commenced in early November 2009, and the production opened December 2009. Soderbergh also shot a small improvised film with the cast of the play, The Last Time I Saw Michael Gregg, a comedy about a theatre company staging Chekhov's Three Sisters.
He followed that with the action-thriller Haywire
Haywire (film)
Haywire is an upcoming action film directed by Steven Soderbergh, starring Gina Carano, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum and Michael Fassbender.-Plot:...
starring Gina Carano
Gina Carano
Gina Joy Carano is an American model, actress, and mixed martial arts fighter. Carano appeared as the Gladiator "Crush" on American Gladiators...
, Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
, Michael Fassbender
Michael Fassbender
Michael Fassbender is an Irish-German actor. He is best known for playing Lt. Archie Hicox in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and Magneto in the superhero blockbuster X-Men: First Class...
and Channing Tatum
Channing Tatum
Channing Matthew Tatum is an American actor and film producer. He began his career as a fashion model and appearing in television commercials for Pepsi and Mountain Dew before turning to film roles...
which, though shot in early 2010, will not be released until 2012.
In the fall of 2010, he shot the epic virus thriller Contagion
Contagion (film)
Contagion is a 2011 American medical thriller disaster film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film has an ensemble cast that includes Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, and Bryan Cranston. Contagion follows the rapid progress of a lethal...
, written by Scott Z. Burns
Scott Z. Burns
Scott Z. Burns is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. He has written screenplays for The Bourne Ultimatum , The Informant! , and Contagion , all of which feature Matt Damon. His latest two films were both directed by Steven Soderbergh...
. With a star-studded cast including Matt Damon
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...
, Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet
Kate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...
, Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Kate Paltrow is an American actress and singer. She made her acting debut on stage in 1990 and started appearing in films in 1991. After appearing in several films throughout the decade, Paltrow gained early notice for her work in films such as Se7en and Emma...
, Laurence Fishburne
Laurence Fishburne
Laurence John Fishburne III is an American film and stage actor, playwright, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Morpheus in the Matrix science fiction film trilogy, as Cowboy Curtis on the 1980's television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, and as singer-musician Ike Turner...
, Marion Cotillard
Marion Cotillard
Marion Cotillard is a French actress and singer. She garnered critical acclaim for her roles in films such as La Vie en Rose, My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument, Taxi, Furia and Jeux d'enfants...
and Jude Law
Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...
, the film follows the outbreak of a lethal pandemic across the globe and the efforts of doctors and scientists to discover the cause and develop a cure. It was released on September 9, 2011.
He is currently shooting Magic Mike
Magic Mike
Magic Mike is an upcoming drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film stars Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, and Joe Manganiello.-Premise :Veteran male stripper Magic Mike teaches a new male stripper about the occupation...
, a film starring Channing Tatum
Channing Tatum
Channing Matthew Tatum is an American actor and film producer. He began his career as a fashion model and appearing in television commercials for Pepsi and Mountain Dew before turning to film roles...
about the actor's own experiences working as a male stripper in his youth. Tatum will play the title mentor character, while Alex Pettyfer
Alex Pettyfer
Alexander Richard "Alex" Pettyfer is an English actor and model. He appeared in school plays and on television before being cast as Alex Rider, the main character in the 2006 film version of Stormbreaker. Pettyfer was nominated for a Young Artist Award and an Empire Award for his role. He has been...
will play a character based on Tatum.
Soderbergh had planned to follow this in early 2012 with a feature version of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
, also written by Scott Z. Burns
Scott Z. Burns
Scott Z. Burns is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. He has written screenplays for The Bourne Ultimatum , The Informant! , and Contagion , all of which feature Matt Damon. His latest two films were both directed by Steven Soderbergh...
. The film was set to reunite him with George Clooney
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...
, but Clooney had to drop out of the film due to a recurring back injury suffered while filming Syriana
Syriana
Syriana is a 2005 geopolitical thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, and executive produced by George Clooney, who also stars in the film with an ensemble cast. Gaghan's screenplay is loosely adapted from Robert Baer's memoir See No Evil...
. As of November 2011, Soderbergh had dropped out of the film due to budget and casting conflicts.
Behind the Candelabra, his final film, is set to shoot in the Summer of 2012. It will star Michael Douglas as legendarily flamboyant pianist Liberace
Liberace
Wladziu Valentino Liberace , best known simply as Liberace, was a famous American pianist and vocalist.In a career that spanned four decades of concerts, recordings, motion pictures, television and endorsements, Liberace became world-renowned...
and Matt Damon as his lover Scott Thorson
Scott Thorson
Scott Thorson became famous for his relationship with and lawsuit against entertainer Liberace and his testimony against gangster Eddie Nash.-Relationship with Liberace:...
. The film is written by Richard LaGravenese
Richard LaGravenese
Richard LaGravenese is an American screenwriter and occasional film director. He is best known as the writer of The Fisher King.-Personal life:...
, based on Thorson's book Behind the Candelabra: My Life With Liberace. It will be produced by HBO Films
HBO Films
HBO Films is a division of the cable television network HBO that produces feature films and miniseries. While much of HBO Films' output is created directly for the television market, such as the film Witness Protection and the mini-series Band of Brothers, Pacific, Generation Kill and Angels in...
.
Soderbergh has announced in numerous interviews his intention to retire from filmmaking after finishing these three films to focus on his painting full-time. He stated that "when you reach the point where you're saying, 'If I have to get into a van to do another scout, I'm just going to shoot myself,' it's time to let somebody who's still excited about getting in the van, get the van." Soderbergh later confirmed that he would retire from filmmaking and begin to explore painting. A few weeks later, Soderbergh played down his earlier comments, saying a film-making "sabbatical" was more accurate.
Unrealized Projects
Soderbergh nearly filmed a feature adaptation of the controversial state-of-baseball tome Moneyball, starring Brad PittBrad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
and Demetri Martin
Demetri Martin
Demetri Martin is an American comedian, actor, artist, musician, writer and humorist. Martin is best known for his work as a stand-up comedian, contributor on The Daily Show and for his Comedy Central show Important Things with Demetri Martin.- Early life :Demetri Martin was born to a Greek...
. The book, by Michael Lewis
Michael Lewis (author)
Michael Lewis is an American non-fiction author and financial journalist. His bestselling books include The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, Liar's Poker, The New New Thing, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, Panic and Home Game: An...
, tells of how Billy Beane
Billy Beane
William Lamar "Billy" Beane III is a former Major League Baseball player and the current general manager and minority owner of the Oakland Athletics...
, general manager of Oakland Athletics
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
, used statistical analysis to make up for what he lacked in funds to beat the odds and lead his team to a series of notable wins in 2002. Disagreements between Sony and Soderbergh about revisions to Steven Zaillian
Steven Zaillian
Steven Ernest Bernard Zaillian is an American screenwriter, film director, film editor, producer, and founder of Film Rites, a film production company. He won an Academy Award for his screenplay for Schindler's List and he has been nominated two times for Awakenings and Gangs of New York...
's version of the screenplay led to the project being canceled only days prior to filming in June 2009. The move, unprecedented in recent history, sent shockwaves through the industry. The film was eventually made by director Bennett Miller
Bennett Miller
Bennett Miller is an American film director.Miller is the director of the feature Capote , a film for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Director. He also directed the documentary film The Cruise...
, with a script rewritten by Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Social Network, and Moneyball.After graduating from Syracuse...
.
Around the same time, he planned a 3-D live-action rock musical film based on Cleopatra's life entitled "Cleo", with Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, is a British actress. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of United Kingdom and United States television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as the 1998 action film The Mask of...
in talks to play Cleopatra, and with music by the band Guided by Voices
Guided by Voices
Guided by Voices is an American indie rock band originating from Dayton, Ohio. Beginning with the band's formation in 1983, it made frequent personnel changes but always maintained the presence of principal songwriter Robert Pollard...
. Soderbergh and scriptwriter James Greer
James Greer
James Greer is an American novelist, screenwriter, musician, and critic. He lives in Los Angeles but spends much of his time in France.-Career as a musician/critic:Greer was Senior Editor and Senior Writer at Spin magazine in NYC in the early 90s...
were said to be rewriting the lyrics of the songs to fit the story.
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television.Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as action/superhero, period and romance characters...
was approached to play Mark Antony
Mark Antony
Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...
but withdrew.
He also worked for a time with writer Scott Z. Burns
Scott Z. Burns
Scott Z. Burns is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. He has written screenplays for The Bourne Ultimatum , The Informant! , and Contagion , all of which feature Matt Damon. His latest two films were both directed by Steven Soderbergh...
on a biopic of controversial Nazi-era film director Leni Riefenstahl
Leni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party...
, but he and Burns ended up abandoning that script as too uncommercial, making Contagion
Contagion (film)
Contagion is a 2011 American medical thriller disaster film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film has an ensemble cast that includes Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, and Bryan Cranston. Contagion follows the rapid progress of a lethal...
instead.
Directorial style and collaborations
Soderbergh frequently works with actors on more than one occasion. The following is a list of notable collaborators (in order of first film appearance):- Peter GallagherPeter GallagherPeter Killian Gallagher is an American actor, musician and writer. Since 1980, Gallagher has played many roles in numerous Hollywood films. He starred as Sandy Cohen in the television drama series The O.C. from 2003 to 2007...
(sex, lies, and videotape and The Underneath) - Ron VawterRon VawterRon Vawter was an American actor and a founding member of the experimental theater company, The Wooster Group....
(sex, lies, and videotape and King of The Hill) - Jeroen KrabbeJeroen KrabbéJeroen Aart Krabbé is a Dutch actor and film director who has appeared in many Dutch and international films.-Biography:...
(Kafka, King of the Hill and Ocean's Twelve) - Joe Chrest (King of the Hill, The Underneath, Schizopolis, Out of Sight, Erin Brokovich, Full Frontal, Ocean's Thirteen and The Informant!)
- Spaulding Gray (King of the Hill, Gray's Anatomy and And Everything is Going Fine)
- Eddie JemisonEddie JemisonEdward F. "Eddie" Jemison is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles in the Ocean's Eleven trilogy and the television series Hung.-Life and career:...
(Schizopolis, Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen, and The Informant!) - Don CheadleDon CheadleDonald Frank "Don" Cheadle, Jr. is an American film actor and producer. Cheadle rose to prominence in the late 1990s and the early 2000s for his supporting roles in the Steven Soderbergh-directed films Out of Sight, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven...
(Out of Sight, Traffic, Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen) - George ClooneyGeorge ClooneyGeorge Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...
(Out of Sight, Ocean's Eleven, Solaris, Ocean's Twelve, The Good German and Ocean's Thirteen) - Viola DavisViola DavisViola Davis is an American actress.Known primarily as a stage actress, Davis won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play and a Drama Desk Award for her role in King Hedley II . She won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her role in the...
(Out of Sight, Traffic and Solaris) - Luis GuzmánLuis GuzmánLuis Guzmán is an actor from Puerto Rico. He is known for his character work. For much of his career, he has played roles largely as sidekicks, thugs, or policemen....
(Out of Sight, The Limey, and Traffic) - Catherine KeenerCatherine KeenerCatherine Ann Keener is an American actress. She has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Being John Malkovich and Capote...
(Out of Sight and Full Frontal) - Terrence Stamp (The Limey and Full Frontal)
- Albert FinneyAlbert FinneyAlbert Finney is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television....
(Erin Brokovich, Traffic and Ocean's Twelve) - Julia RobertsJulia RobertsJulia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman , which grossed $464 million worldwide...
(Erin Brokovich, Ocean's Eleven, Full Frontal and Ocean's Twelve) - Michael DouglasMichael DouglasMichael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
(Traffic and Haywire) - Topher GraceTopher GraceChristopher John "Topher" Grace is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Eric Forman on the Fox sitcom That '70s Show, Eddie Brock/Venom in the Sam Raimi film Spider-Man 3, and Edwin in the 2010 film Predators....
(Traffic, Ocean's Eleven and Ocean's Twelve) - Benicio del ToroBenicio del ToroBenicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez is a Puerto Rican and Spanish actor and film producer. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA Award for his role as Javier Rodríguez in Traffic . He is also known for his roles as Fred Fenster in The Usual...
(Traffic and Che) - Catherine Zeta-JonesCatherine Zeta-JonesCatherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, is a British actress. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of United Kingdom and United States television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as the 1998 action film The Mask of...
(Traffic and Ocean's Twelve) - Matt DamonMatt DamonMatthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...
(Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen, Che Part 2: Guerrilla, The Informant! and Contagion) - Elliott GouldElliott GouldElliott Gould is an American actor. He began acting in Hollywood films during the 1960s, and has remained prolific ever since. Some of his most notable films include M*A*S*H and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, for which he received an Oscar nomination...
(Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen and Contagion) - Brad PittBrad PittWilliam Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
(Ocean's Eleven, Full Frontal, Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen) - Enrico ColantoniEnrico ColantoniEnrico Colantoni is a Canadian actor, probably best known for portraying Elliot DiMauro in the sitcom Just Shoot Me!, Keith Mars on the television series Veronica Mars, and Sergeant Greg Parker on the television series Flashpoint. He has also had supporting roles in such films as The Wrong Guy, ...
(Full Frontal and Contagion) - Channing TatumChanning TatumChanning Matthew Tatum is an American actor and film producer. He began his career as a fashion model and appearing in television commercials for Pepsi and Mountain Dew before turning to film roles...
(Haywire and Magic Mike)
"I've always gotten along with them," says Soderbergh of actors, "I try and make sure they're OK, and when they're in the zone, I leave them alone. I don't get in their way." His non-intrusive directorial style has attracted repeat performances by many high-profile movie stars.
Julia Roberts had supporting roles in Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, and Full Frontal, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for her lead in Erin Brockovich. Benicio del Toro
Benicio del Toro
Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez is a Puerto Rican and Spanish actor and film producer. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA Award for his role as Javier Rodríguez in Traffic . He is also known for his roles as Fred Fenster in The Usual...
, who also won an Academy Award for his work in a Soderbergh film (Traffic), later starred in Guerrilla and The Argentine. Catherine Zeta-Jones won a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of Helena in Traffic (2000) and reteamed with him for box-office hit Ocean's Twelve (2004). But the actor he has collaborated most frequently with is George Clooney, who played the leading role six of his films, and with whom he co-owned the film production company, Section Eight Productions
Section Eight Productions
Section Eight Productions was a production company founded in 2000 by film director Steven Soderbergh and film actor George Clooney. It produced the critical hits Far From Heaven, Insomnia, Syriana, A Scanner Darkly and Michael Clayton, as well as Clooney-directed films Confessions of a Dangerous...
. Section Eight produced the critical hits Far From Heaven
Far from Heaven
Far from Heaven is a 2002 drama film written and directed by Todd Haynes and starring Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, and Patricia Clarkson....
, Insomnia
Insomnia (2002 film)
Insomnia is an American psychological thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank. The film, released on 24 May 2002, is a remake of the 1997 Norwegian film of the same name.-Plot:...
, and Syriana
Syriana
Syriana is a 2005 geopolitical thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, and executive produced by George Clooney, who also stars in the film with an ensemble cast. Gaghan's screenplay is loosely adapted from Robert Baer's memoir See No Evil...
as well as the Clooney-directed films Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is a 2002 biographical spy film depicting the life of popular game show host and producer Chuck Barris, who claimed to have also been an assassin for the Central Intelligence Agency...
and Good Night, and Good Luck.
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Good Night, and Good Luck. is a 2005 American drama film directed by George Clooney. The film was written by Clooney and Grant Heslov and portrays the conflict between veteran radio and television journalist Edward R. Murrow and U.S...
Soderbergh often acts as his own director of photography under the alias of Peter Andrews and occasionally as his own editor under the alias of Mary Ann Bernard. While shooting Traffic, Soderbergh wanted a credit of "Photographed and Directed by". The Writer's Guild (WGA) wouldn't allow another credit ahead of the writer. Because Soderbergh didn't want his name used more than once, he adopted a pseudonym, Peter Andrews, his father's first and middle names.
Soderbergh often utilizes Cliff Martinez
Cliff Martinez
Cliff Martinez is an American film score composer and former drummer.-Biography:Cliff Martinez was born in the Bronx, New York. Raised in Columbus, Ohio, his first job composing was for the popular television show Pee Wee's Playhouse...
to construct/compose the soundtracks to his movies, and when not cutting his own films, he relies on editor Stephen Mirrione
Stephen Mirrione
Stephen Mirrione is an American film editor. He won an Academy Award for his editing of the film Traffic .-Life and career:...
.
Aesthetics
Soderbergh has made big-budget Hollywood films as well as art-house independent films; works with above-the-title movie stars and unknowns; directs adaptations and original material, both of which written by himself as well as other screenwriters. His versatility is also apparent with the genres which he chooses to film and his trades as a filmmaker behind the scenes. Traffic screenwriter and Syriana director Stephen GaghanStephen Gaghan
Stephen Gaghan is an American screenwriter and director. He is noted for writing the screenplay for Steven Soderbergh's film Traffic, based on a Channel 4 series, for which he won the Academy Award, as well as Syriana which he wrote and directed.-Childhood and education:Born in either Louisville,...
named Soderbergh "the Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...
of filmmaking" for his ability to assume so many distinct roles in film production.
While Soderbergh is enamoured of dialogue, Soderbergh's incorporation of score and montage are equally prevalent in his story-telling. Even Soderbergh's light-hearted affairs, such as Out of Sight
Out of Sight
Out of Sight is a 1998 American crime film. The film was directed by Steven Soderbergh and based on the novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard. It was the first of several collaborations between Soderbergh and star George Clooney. The film was released on June 26, 1998. It was nominated for two...
and Ocean's 11, contain scenes where images and score are the dominant story-telling mechanisms. Films such as Solaris and Traffic are heavily layered in scenes absent of dialogue altogether. Cliff Martinez
Cliff Martinez
Cliff Martinez is an American film score composer and former drummer.-Biography:Cliff Martinez was born in the Bronx, New York. Raised in Columbus, Ohio, his first job composing was for the popular television show Pee Wee's Playhouse...
, a frequent collaborator with Soderbergh, composes many of the scores that provide Soderbergh with the thematic and sonic landscapes into which he inserts his characters.
But while Soderbergh's subject matter is highly varied, many of his films feature as a central theme the exploration of the act or moral consequences of lying. For example, the protagonists in two early films, King of the Hill and Sex, Lies, and Videotape, are both pathological liars (one in training, one in recovery), while most of the characters in all three Oceans films are con artists. It is interesting to note that he directed Spalding Gray
Spalding Gray
Spalding Rockwell Gray was an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, performance artist and monologuist...
in Gray's Anatomy
Gray's Anatomy (1996 film)
Gray's Anatomy is an 80-minute motion picture directed by Steven Soderbergh in 1996 involving a dramatized monologue by actor/writer Spalding Gray...
after King of the Hill, an actor who often commented that he was unable to "make anything up". Full Frontal is another film in this thread, where seemingly the fundamental dishonesty of the entire filmmaking process is exposed. More distantly, Soderbergh's interest in rhyming slang, as seen in The Limey and the Oceans films, may be seen as part of this theme, based on the conjectured origin of rhyming slang as a language game.
In his review of Full Frontal
Full Frontal (film)
Full Frontal is a 2002 film by Steven Soderbergh, about a day in the life of people in Hollywood. The film, starring Catherine Keener, David Duchovny, Julia Roberts, Mary McCormack and David Hyde Pierce was shot on digital video in under a month using the Canon XL-1s...
film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
commented that, "Every once in a while, perhaps as an exercise in humility, Steven Soderbergh makes a truly inexplicable film... A film so amateurish that only the professionalism of some of the actors makes it watchable... It's the kind of film where you need the director telling you what he meant to do and what went wrong and how the actors screwed up and how there was no money for retakes, etc." About Soderbergh's film, The Good German
The Good German
The Good German is a 2006 feature film adaptation of the novel by Joseph Kanon. It was directed by Steven Soderbergh, and stars George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire...
and his emphasis on style over substance, film critic Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper is an American columnist and film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and now a co-host on The Roe Conn Show on WLS-AM...
commented that the film had to offer, "a lot of style. Not so much with the plot."
Soderbergh has, nonetheless, been dubbed a stylistic chameleon by Anne Thompson of Premiere Magazine. Drew Morton has extensively researched Soderbergh and has tied him to a modern movement much like the French New Wave
French New Wave
The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...
.
Soderbergh also has a track record of honorable contributions in the cinematic arts; when the papers of Terry Southern were potentially in limbo following his untimely death in 1995, Soderbergh purchased and then donated the papers to the New York Public Library. Naqoyqatsi, the final chapter of the Qatsi trilogy, was completed after a delay of more than 10 years, only after Soderbergh stepped in to provide the necessary funding.
Views
Soderbergh is not a fan of possessory creditPossessory credit
A possessory credit in filmmaking is the use of a film credit which gives primary artistic recognition to a single person - usually the film's director. Examples include "A Robert Wise film" , "A film by Quentin Tarantino" , and "Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho"...
s, and prefers not to have his name front and center at the start of a film. "The fact that I'm not an identifiable brand is very freeing," says Soderbergh, "because people get tired of brands and they switch brands. I've never had a desire to be out in front of anything, which is why I don't take a possessory credit."
On Monday, April 5, 2009, Soderbergh appeared before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, and "cited the French initiative in asking lawmakers to deputize the American film industry to pursue copyright pirates", indicating he supports anti-piracy laws and internet regulation.
Personal life
Soderbergh is married to writer/journalist Jules AsnerJules Asner
Jules Asner is an American television personality, writer, and former fashion model.- Personal life :Asner was born Julie Ann White in Tempe, Arizona, the daughter of Lee White, a furniture saleswoman. At the age of sixteen Jules was discovered at a modeling convention in Scottsdale, Arizona. She...
, whom he often credits for influencing his female characters. Soderbergh claims he no longer reads reviews of his movies. "After Traffic I just stopped completely", says the director. "After winning the LA and New York film critics awards, I really felt like, this can only get worse". Stephen has a daughter, Sarah Soderbergh with his first wife, Betsy Brantley
Betsy Brantley
Betsy Brantley is an American actress.Brantley was born Rutherfordton, North Carolina. She is the older sister of producer/screenwriter Duncan Brantley, and formerly married to Simon Dutton and Steven Soderbergh....
. He also has a daughter, Pearl Button Anderson, born August 2010, from an extramarital affair with Australian Frances Anderson.
Soderbergh lives in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He is an atheist.
Director
| Year | Title | Oscar nominations | Oscar wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Sex, Lies, and Videotape Sex, lies, and videotape Sex, Lies, and Videotape is a 1989 independent film that brought director Steven Soderbergh to prominence. It tells the story of a man who films women discussing their sexuality, and his impact on the relationship of a troubled married couple.... |
1 (Original Screenplay) | |
| 1991 | Kafka Kafka (film) Kafka is a 1991 mystery thriller film directed by Steven Soderbergh. Ostensibly a biopic, based on the life of Franz Kafka, the film blurs the lines between fact and Kafka's fiction , creating a Kafkaesque atmosphere... |
||
| 1993 | King of the Hill King of the Hill (film) King of the Hill is a 1993 film, Steven Soderbergh's third feature film, and the second he directed from his own screenplay following his 1989 Palme d'Or-winning effort sex, lies, and videotape. It too was nominated for the Palme d'Or, at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.-Production:Based on the... |
||
| 1995 | The Underneath | ||
| 1996 | Gray's Anatomy | ||
| Schizopolis Schizopolis Schizopolis is an experimental comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh in 1996 with a non-linear narrative.-Synopsis:... |
|||
| 1998 | Out of Sight Out of Sight Out of Sight is a 1998 American crime film. The film was directed by Steven Soderbergh and based on the novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard. It was the first of several collaborations between Soderbergh and star George Clooney. The film was released on June 26, 1998. It was nominated for two... |
2 | |
| 1999 | The Limey The Limey The Limey is a 1999 American crime film, directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Lem Dobbs. The film features Terence Stamp, Lesley Ann Warren, Luis Guzmán, Peter Fonda and Barry Newman.Filming locations included Big Sur and L.A.-Plot:... |
||
| 2000 | Erin Brockovich Erin Brockovich (film) Erin Brockovich is a 2000 biographical film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film is a dramatization of the story of Erin Brockovich, played by Julia Roberts, who fought against the US West Coast energy corporation Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Roberts won the Academy Award, Golden Globe,... |
5 (incl. Best Director) | 1 |
| Traffic Traffic (2000 film) Traffic is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although some of the... |
5 (incl. Best Director) | 4 (incl. Best Director) | |
| 2001 | Ocean's Eleven Ocean's Eleven (2001 film) Ocean's Eleven is a 2001 American comedy-crime caper and remake of the 1960 Rat Pack caper film of the same name. The 2001 film was directed by Steven Soderbergh and features an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Andy García, and Julia Roberts. The film was... |
||
| 2002 | Full Frontal Full Frontal (film) Full Frontal is a 2002 film by Steven Soderbergh, about a day in the life of people in Hollywood. The film, starring Catherine Keener, David Duchovny, Julia Roberts, Mary McCormack and David Hyde Pierce was shot on digital video in under a month using the Canon XL-1s... |
||
| Solaris Solaris (2002 film) Solaris is a 2002 science fiction film and psychological drama directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney and Natascha McElhone... |
|||
| 2004 | Ocean's Twelve Ocean's Twelve Ocean's Twelve is a 2004 American crime comedy film, the sequel to 2001's Ocean's Eleven. Like its predecessor, which was a remake of the 1960 film Ocean's 11, the film used a celebrity ensemble cast. It was released in the United States on December 10, 2004. A third film, Ocean's Thirteen, was... |
||
| 2005 | Bubble Bubble (film) Bubble is a movie directed by Steven Soderbergh. It was shot on high-definition video and was made for a relatively small budget of $1.6 million. It also featured some unusual production aspects.In traditional terms, the movie has no script... |
||
| 2006 | The Good German The Good German The Good German is a 2006 feature film adaptation of the novel by Joseph Kanon. It was directed by Steven Soderbergh, and stars George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire... |
1 | |
| 2007 | Ocean's Thirteen Ocean's Thirteen Ocean's Thirteen is a 2007 crime comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring an ensemble cast. It is the third and final film in the Soderbergh series following the 2004 sequel Ocean's Twelve and the 2001 film Ocean's Eleven, which itself was a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film Ocean's 11... |
||
| 2008 | Che Che (film) Che is a two-part 2008 biopic about Ernesto 'Che' Guevara directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro. Rather than follow a standard chronological order, the films offer an oblique series of interspersed moments along the overall timeline... |
||
| 2009 | The Girlfriend Experience The Girlfriend Experience The Girlfriend Experience is a 2009 experimental drama film shot in New York City. It is directed by Steven Soderbergh and stars then-active porn star Sasha Grey. A rough cut was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. The film has also been made available on Amazon Video on Demand... |
||
| The Informant! | |||
| 2010 | And Everything Is Going Fine And Everything Is Going Fine And Everything Is Going Fine is a 2010 documentary film directed by Steven Soderbergh about the life of the late monologuist Spalding Gray. It premiered at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival and was screened at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival... |
||
| 2011 | Contagion Contagion (film) Contagion is a 2011 American medical thriller disaster film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film has an ensemble cast that includes Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, and Bryan Cranston. Contagion follows the rapid progress of a lethal... |
||
| 2012 | Haywire Haywire (film) Haywire is an upcoming action film directed by Steven Soderbergh, starring Gina Carano, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum and Michael Fassbender.-Plot:... |
||
| Magic Mike Magic Mike Magic Mike is an upcoming drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film stars Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, and Joe Manganiello.-Premise :Veteran male stripper Magic Mike teaches a new male stripper about the occupation... |
Screenwriter
- 1989: Sex, Lies, and VideotapeSex, lies, and videotapeSex, Lies, and Videotape is a 1989 independent film that brought director Steven Soderbergh to prominence. It tells the story of a man who films women discussing their sexuality, and his impact on the relationship of a troubled married couple....
- 1993: King of the HillKing of the Hill (film)King of the Hill is a 1993 film, Steven Soderbergh's third feature film, and the second he directed from his own screenplay following his 1989 Palme d'Or-winning effort sex, lies, and videotape. It too was nominated for the Palme d'Or, at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.-Production:Based on the...
- 1995: The Underneath as Sam Lowry
- 1996: SchizopolisSchizopolisSchizopolis is an experimental comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh in 1996 with a non-linear narrative.-Synopsis:...
- 1997: NightwatchNightwatch (1997 film)Nightwatch is a 1997 American horror-thriller film directed by Ole Bornedal, and starring Ewan McGregor, Patricia Arquette, Josh Brolin and Nick Nolte. It is a remake of the Danish film Nattevagten , which was also directed by Bornedal.-Plot:...
- 2002: SolarisSolaris (2002 film)Solaris is a 2002 science fiction film and psychological drama directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney and Natascha McElhone...
- 2004: ErosEros (film)Eros is a 2004 portmanteau film consisting of three short films: Wong Kar-wai's The Hand, Steven Soderbergh's Equilibrium and Michelangelo Antonioni's The Dangerous Thread of Things.-Releases:...
– the segment "Equilibrium"
Cinematographer
- 1996: SchizopolisSchizopolisSchizopolis is an experimental comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh in 1996 with a non-linear narrative.-Synopsis:...
- 2000: TrafficTraffic (2000 film)Traffic is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although some of the...
– as Peter Andrews - 2001: Ocean's ElevenOcean's Eleven (2001 film)Ocean's Eleven is a 2001 American comedy-crime caper and remake of the 1960 Rat Pack caper film of the same name. The 2001 film was directed by Steven Soderbergh and features an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Andy García, and Julia Roberts. The film was...
– as Peter Andrews - 2002: Full FrontalFull Frontal (film)Full Frontal is a 2002 film by Steven Soderbergh, about a day in the life of people in Hollywood. The film, starring Catherine Keener, David Duchovny, Julia Roberts, Mary McCormack and David Hyde Pierce was shot on digital video in under a month using the Canon XL-1s...
– as Peter Andrews - 2002: SolarisSolaris (2002 film)Solaris is a 2002 science fiction film and psychological drama directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney and Natascha McElhone...
– as Peter Andrews - 2004: Ocean's TwelveOcean's TwelveOcean's Twelve is a 2004 American crime comedy film, the sequel to 2001's Ocean's Eleven. Like its predecessor, which was a remake of the 1960 film Ocean's 11, the film used a celebrity ensemble cast. It was released in the United States on December 10, 2004. A third film, Ocean's Thirteen, was...
– as Peter Andrews - 2004: ErosEros (film)Eros is a 2004 portmanteau film consisting of three short films: Wong Kar-wai's The Hand, Steven Soderbergh's Equilibrium and Michelangelo Antonioni's The Dangerous Thread of Things.-Releases:...
– the segment "Equilibrium" - 2006: BubbleBubble (film)Bubble is a movie directed by Steven Soderbergh. It was shot on high-definition video and was made for a relatively small budget of $1.6 million. It also featured some unusual production aspects.In traditional terms, the movie has no script...
– as Peter Andrews - 2006: The Good GermanThe Good GermanThe Good German is a 2006 feature film adaptation of the novel by Joseph Kanon. It was directed by Steven Soderbergh, and stars George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire...
– as Peter Andrews - 2007: Ocean's ThirteenOcean's ThirteenOcean's Thirteen is a 2007 crime comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring an ensemble cast. It is the third and final film in the Soderbergh series following the 2004 sequel Ocean's Twelve and the 2001 film Ocean's Eleven, which itself was a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film Ocean's 11...
– as Peter Andrews - 2008: CheChe (film)Che is a two-part 2008 biopic about Ernesto 'Che' Guevara directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro. Rather than follow a standard chronological order, the films offer an oblique series of interspersed moments along the overall timeline...
– as Peter Andrews - 2009: The Girlfriend ExperienceThe Girlfriend ExperienceThe Girlfriend Experience is a 2009 experimental drama film shot in New York City. It is directed by Steven Soderbergh and stars then-active porn star Sasha Grey. A rough cut was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. The film has also been made available on Amazon Video on Demand...
– as Peter Andrews - 2009: The Informant! – as Peter Andrews
- 2011: ContagionContagion (film)Contagion is a 2011 American medical thriller disaster film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film has an ensemble cast that includes Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, and Bryan Cranston. Contagion follows the rapid progress of a lethal...
- as Peter Andrews - 2011: HaywireHaywire (film)Haywire is an upcoming action film directed by Steven Soderbergh, starring Gina Carano, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum and Michael Fassbender.-Plot:...
- as Peter Andrews
Editor
- 1989: Sex, Lies, and VideotapeSex, lies, and videotapeSex, Lies, and Videotape is a 1989 independent film that brought director Steven Soderbergh to prominence. It tells the story of a man who films women discussing their sexuality, and his impact on the relationship of a troubled married couple....
- 1991: KafkaKafka (film)Kafka is a 1991 mystery thriller film directed by Steven Soderbergh. Ostensibly a biopic, based on the life of Franz Kafka, the film blurs the lines between fact and Kafka's fiction , creating a Kafkaesque atmosphere...
- 1993: King of the HillKing of the Hill (film)King of the Hill is a 1993 film, Steven Soderbergh's third feature film, and the second he directed from his own screenplay following his 1989 Palme d'Or-winning effort sex, lies, and videotape. It too was nominated for the Palme d'Or, at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.-Production:Based on the...
- 2002: SolarisSolaris (2002 film)Solaris is a 2002 science fiction film and psychological drama directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney and Natascha McElhone...
– as Mary Ann Bernard - 2004: ErosEros (film)Eros is a 2004 portmanteau film consisting of three short films: Wong Kar-wai's The Hand, Steven Soderbergh's Equilibrium and Michelangelo Antonioni's The Dangerous Thread of Things.-Releases:...
– the segment "Equilibrium" - 2006: BubbleBubble (film)Bubble is a movie directed by Steven Soderbergh. It was shot on high-definition video and was made for a relatively small budget of $1.6 million. It also featured some unusual production aspects.In traditional terms, the movie has no script...
– as Mary Ann Bernard - 2006: The Good GermanThe Good GermanThe Good German is a 2006 feature film adaptation of the novel by Joseph Kanon. It was directed by Steven Soderbergh, and stars George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire...
– as Mary Ann Bernard - 2009: The Girlfriend ExperienceThe Girlfriend ExperienceThe Girlfriend Experience is a 2009 experimental drama film shot in New York City. It is directed by Steven Soderbergh and stars then-active porn star Sasha Grey. A rough cut was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. The film has also been made available on Amazon Video on Demand...
– as Mary Ann Bernard
Producer
- 1994: SutureSuture (film)Suture is a 1993 neo-noir film directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel and stars Dennis Haysbert and Mel Harris. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:...
- 1996: The DaytrippersThe DaytrippersThe Daytrippers is a 1996 independent drama film written and directed by Greg Mottola. It stars Hope Davis, Stanley Tucci, Parker Posey and Liev Schreiber.-Plot:...
- 1998: PleasantvillePleasantville (film)Pleasantville is a 1998 American fantasy comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by Gary Ross. The film stars Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, William H. Macy, Joan Allen, Marley Shelton and Jeff Daniels. Don Knotts, Paul Walker, Jane Kaczmarek, and J. T. Walsh are also featured.The film...
- 2002: Far from HeavenFar from HeavenFar from Heaven is a 2002 drama film written and directed by Todd Haynes and starring Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, and Patricia Clarkson....
- 2002: Confessions of a Dangerous MindConfessions of a Dangerous MindConfessions of a Dangerous Mind is a 2002 biographical spy film depicting the life of popular game show host and producer Chuck Barris, who claimed to have also been an assassin for the Central Intelligence Agency...
- 2002: InsomniaInsomnia (2002 film)Insomnia is an American psychological thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank. The film, released on 24 May 2002, is a remake of the 1997 Norwegian film of the same name.-Plot:...
- 2002: Welcome to CollinwoodWelcome to CollinwoodWelcome to Collinwood is a 2002 American crime comedy film about five small-time criminals, from the Collinwood neighborhood of Cleveland, who try to organize one last big job...
- 2002: NaqoyqatsiNaqoyqatsiNaqoyqatsi , also known as Naqoyqatsi: Life as War, is a 2002 documentary film directed by Godfrey Reggio and edited by Jon Kane, with music composed by Philip Glass. It is the third and final film in the Qatsi trilogy....
- 2004: KeaneKeane (film)Keane is a 2004 American drama film written and directed by Lodge Kerrigan. Set in New York City, it focuses on a mentally disturbed man trying to come to terms with the abduction of his daughter several months earlier and the relationship he develops with a young girl and her mother.The film...
- 2004: CriminalCriminal (film)Criminal is a 2004 American film based upon the Argentine film Nine Queens. Directed by Gregory Jacobs, it stars John C. Reilly, Diego Luna, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Maeve Quinlan and is a production of Section Eight, the production company of Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney.-Plot:John C. Reilly...
- 2005: SyrianaSyrianaSyriana is a 2005 geopolitical thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, and executive produced by George Clooney, who also stars in the film with an ensemble cast. Gaghan's screenplay is loosely adapted from Robert Baer's memoir See No Evil...
- 2005: Good Night, and Good Luck
- 2005: The JacketThe JacketThe Jacket is a 2005 psychological thriller film directed by John Maybury that is partly based on the Jack London novel of the same name, released in the US as The Star Rover. Massy Tadjedin wrote the screenplay based on a story by Tom Bleecker and Marc Rocco...
- 2005: Rumor Has It...Rumor Has It...Rumor Has It... is a 2005 American comedy film directed by Rob Reiner, starring Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine and Mark Ruffalo...
- 2006: Pu-239Pu-239 (film)PU-239 is a 2007 film directed by Hollywood producer Scott Z. Burns based on the book PU-239 and Other Russian Fantasies written by Ken Kalfus....
- 2006: A Scanner DarklyA Scanner Darkly (film)A Scanner Darkly is a 2006 science fiction thriller directed by Richard Linklater based on the novel of the same name by Philip K. Dick. The film tells the story of identity and deception in a near-future dystopia constantly under intrusive high-technology police surveillance in the midst of a drug...
- 2007: I'm Not ThereI'm Not ThereI'm Not There is a 2007 biographical musical film directed by Todd Haynes, inspired by iconic American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Six actors depict different facets of Dylan's life and public persona: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Ben Whishaw...
- 2007: Michael ClaytonMichael Clayton (film)Michael Clayton is a 2007 American drama film written and directed by Tony Gilroy, starring George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton and Sydney Pollack...
- 2007: Wind Chill
- 2008: Tishomingo BluesTishomingo Blues (novel)Tishomingo Blues is a 2002 novel by Elmore Leonard, set in Mississippi, about two fledgling allies, the local Dixie Mafia, and a high-stakes Civil War re-enactment. It happens to be Leonard's favorite book of the books he has written...
[in limbo] - 2009: Solitary ManSolitary Man (film)Solitary Man is a 2009 American film co-directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien. The film stars Michael Douglas, Susan Sarandon, Jenna Fischer, Jesse Eisenberg, Mary-Louise Parker and Danny DeVito.-Plot:...
- 2011: We Need to Talk About KevinWe Need to Talk About Kevin (film)We Need to Talk about Kevin is a 2011 British-American drama thriller film adapted and directed by Lynne Ramsay from American author Lionel Shriver's 2003 novel of the same name. A long process of development and financing began in 2005 and filming eventually commenced in April 2010, with Tilda...
On his own films
- Sex, Lies, and Videotape, with filmmaker Neil LaButeNeil LaButeNeil N. LaBute is an American film director, screenwriter and playwright.-Early life:LaBute was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Marian, a hospital receptionist, and Richard LaBute, a long-haul truck driver. LaBute is of French Canadian, English and Irish ancestry, and was raised in Spokane,...
- Schizopolis
- Out of Sight, with screenwriter Scott FrankScott FrankScott Frank is an American screenwriter & director.- Filmography :*Plain Clothes *Dead Again *Little Man Tate *Malice *Get Shorty...
- The Limey, with screenwriter Lem DobbsLem DobbsLem Dobbs is a British-American screenwriter, best known for the film The Limey. He is the son of the late painter, R.B. Kitaj...
- Traffic, with screenwriter Stephen GaghanStephen GaghanStephen Gaghan is an American screenwriter and director. He is noted for writing the screenplay for Steven Soderbergh's film Traffic, based on a Channel 4 series, for which he won the Academy Award, as well as Syriana which he wrote and directed.-Childhood and education:Born in either Louisville,...
- Ocean's Eleven, with screenwriter Ted GriffinTed GriffinTed Griffin is an American screenwriter whose credits include Ravenous, Matchstick Men, and Ocean's Eleven.Born in Pasadena, California, Griffin graduated from Colgate University in 1993...
- Full Frontal, with screenwriter Coleman Hough
- Solaris, with producer James CameronJames CameronJames Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
- Ocean's Twelve, with screenwriter George NolfiGeorge NolfiGeorge Nolfi is an American screenwriter. He directed the 2011 film The Adjustment Bureau, which he also wrote .- Life and career :...
(Blu-ray only) - Bubble, with filmmaker Mark RomanekMark RomanekMark Romanek is an American filmmaker, whose directing work includes feature films, music videos and commercials.He wrote and directed the critically acclaimed 2002 film One Hour Photo starring Robin Williams...
- Ocean's Thirteen, with screenwriters Brian KoppelmanBrian KoppelmanBrian Koppelman is an American screenwriter, novelist, director, and producer. Best known as the co-writer of Ocean's Thirteen, and Rounders, Koppelman has also produced films such as The Illusionist and The Lucky Ones as well as directed films such as Solitary Man.His writing partner is David Levien...
and David LevienDavid LevienDavid Levien is an American screenwriter, novelist, director, and producer. Best known as the co-writer of Ocean's Thirteen, and Rounders Levien has also produced films such as The Illusionist and The Lucky Ones....
(Blu-ray only) - The Girlfriend Experience, with actress Sasha GreySasha GreySasha Grey is an American former pornographic actress, who has since turned to mainstream acting, modeling and music....
- The Informant!, with screenwriter Scott Z. BurnsScott Z. BurnsScott Z. Burns is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. He has written screenplays for The Bourne Ultimatum , The Informant! , and Contagion , all of which feature Matt Damon. His latest two films were both directed by Steven Soderbergh...
(Blu-ray only)
On other films
- Apartment ZeroApartment ZeroApartment Zero is a political thriller from Argentina. Directed by Argentine-born screenwriter Martin Donovan and starring Hart Bochner and Colin Firth, the film is suffused with homoerotic overtones and moments of black comedy. The film was produced in 1988 and premiered at film festivals...
, with screenwriter/producer David KoeppDavid Koepp-Career:As a writer, Koepp has worked on such blockbuster Hollywood films as Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible, and Spider-Man. Koepp had a cameo as the "Unlucky Bastard" in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, in which he was serving as Writer and Second Unit Director.His work as a director has not had... - Billy BuddBilly Budd (film)Billy Budd is a 1962 film produced, directed, and co-written by Peter Ustinov. Adapted from the stage play version of Herman Melville's short novel Billy Budd, it starred Terence Stamp as Billy Budd, Robert Ryan as John Claggart, and Ustinov as Captain Vere...
, with actor Terence StampTerence StampTerence Henry Stamp is an English actor. Since starting his career in 1962 he has appeared in over 60 films. His title role as Billy Budd in his film debut earned Stamp an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA nomination for Best Newcomer.His other major roles include... - Catch-22Catch-22 (film)Catch-22 is a 1970 satirical war film adapted from the book of the same name by Joseph Heller. Considered a black comedy revolving around the "lunatic characters" of Heller's satirical anti-war novel, it was the work of a talented production team which included director Mike Nichols and...
, with director Mike NicholsMike NicholsMike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate... - Clean, ShavenClean, ShavenClean, Shaven is a 1994 film directed by Lodge Kerrigan, in which Peter Winter is a schizophrenic man desperately trying to get his daughter back from her adoptive mother...
, with director Lodge KerriganLodge KerriganLodge Kerrigan is an American motion picture screenwriter and director. His 2010 film Rebecca H. entered into the Un Certain Regard section of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.-Filmography:* Clean, Shaven... - The GraduateThe GraduateThe Graduate is a 1967 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Mike Nichols. It is based on the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The screenplay was by Buck Henry, who makes a cameo appearance as a hotel clerk, and Calder...
, with director Mike Nichols - Point Blank, with director John BoormanJohn BoormanJohn Boorman is a British filmmaker who is a long time resident of Ireland and is best known for his feature films such as Point Blank, Deliverance, Zardoz, Excalibur, The Emerald Forest, Hope and Glory, The General and The Tailor of Panama.-Early life:Boorman was born in Shepperton, Surrey,...
- SeabiscuitSeabiscuit (film)Seabiscuit is a 2003 American biographical film based on the best-selling non-fiction book Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand...
, with director Gary RossGary RossGary Ross is an American writer, director, and actor. He is best known for directing Pleasantville and Seabiscuit, both of which featured Tobey Maguire in the lead role... - The Third ManThe Third ManThe Third Man is a 1949 British film noir, directed by Carol Reed and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Many critics rank it as a masterpiece, particularly remembered for its atmospheric cinematography, performances, and unique musical score...
, with screenwriter Tony GilroyTony GilroyAnthony Joseph "Tony" Gilroy is an American screenwriter and filmmaker. He wrote the screenplays for the Bourne series starring Matt Damon, among other successful films. He has been nominated for Academy Awards for his direction and script for Michael Clayton, starring George Clooney... - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (film)Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a 1966 American drama film directed by Mike Nichols. The screenplay by Ernest Lehman is an adaptation of the play of the same title by Edward Albee...
, with director Mike Nichols - The YardsThe YardsThe Yards is a 2000 American crime film with Mark Wahlberg, James Caan, Joaquin Phoenix, and Charlize Theron, written and directed by James Gray...
, with director James GrayJames Gray (film director)James Gray is an American film director and screenwriter.-Life and career:Gray was born in New York City of Russian Jewish descent. His father was once an electronics contractor...
External links
- Steven Soderbergh Bibliography (via UC Berkeley)
- Steven Soderbergh: Interviews
- Everhip interview with Steven Soderbergh about making The Girlfriend Experience
- NPR: Bubble (01/2006)
- Wired interview (12/2005)
- Guardian interview (02/2003)
- French New Wave Influences in Steven Soderbergh (05/2003)
- Steven Soderbergh on The Girlfriend Experience (April 30, 2009)
- 'Che': Soderbergh's Own Revolution? by Lisa Collins, New York Post, October 31, 2008
- "Soderbergh Takes A Revolutionary Approach to 'Che'" by Mark Olsen, LA Times, October 31, 2008
- Steven Soderbergh interview by Scott Tobias, The Onion A.V. Club, January 5, 2009
- Steven Soderbergh Wants a Revolution interview by Foster Kamer, Black Books, December 29, 2008
- The Rumpus Long Interview with Steven Soderbergh by Scott Hitchins, The Rumpus, January 19, 2009
- Steven Soderbergh: "I can see the end of my career" by Henry Barnes, Guardian, July 14, 2009
- Literature on Steven Soderbergh