A good director can be seen immediately. According to his fantasy. By his work. According to his biography. Now the name Soderbergh Steven is on hearing, but what do we know about this man, besides his films? Let's try to find out more about him. Perhaps then the secret of his success and the reason for his endless presence on all lists of laureates will become clear.
Childhood
In 1963, in mid-January, a boy was born in Georgia, who was named Stephen. His father, a professor, moved the whole family to Pittsburgh, and then to Baton Rouge, where he began working as dean of the state university. As a schoolboy, Steven Soderbergh enrolls in animation courses at his father's university and shoots his first short films there (Janitor). The guy's work is exciting, and after school he tries to fulfill the "great American dream" - to move to Hollywood. He stays afloat for a while as a freelance editor, then returns home to work in a video studio making commercials and video clips. Along the way, Steven Soderbergh continues to shootshort films and write scripts. In 1986, he made a documentary for which he was nominated for a Grammy.
Successes and failures
Steven Soderbergh experiences his first directorial success in alcohol captivity, but is making every effort to solve the problem. In 1987, he made a short film with the study of sexual relations "Winston". Then he works on a logical continuation - already a full-length tape "Sex, Lies and Video". His work premiered just in time for the Sanders Film Festival, where Steven Soderbergh won the Palme d'Or and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Private life
The next six years, Steven Soderbergh gets on with his life, divorcing his wife, actress Betsy Brantley. He has a daughter, Sarah. He is working with might and main on the second feature film - the film "Kafka", for the shooting of which he invited Jeremy Irons himself to play the main role. The film very ambiguously describes the life and work of Franz Kafka, based on the works of the writer himself.
Next comes the work on the film "King of the Hill", which tells the story of a boy's life during the Great Depression. Slowly Soderbergh is revealed. Stephen demonstrates his play with colors and love for non-linear storytelling. He does this especially brightly in the 1995 noir crime drama "There, Inside". In the center of the plot is the robbery of the car of collectors. The next film, "Grey's Anatomy", tells about the experiments in the field of alternative medicine, which is conducted by a famous American actor.
Hard work
In 1996, the experimental comedy "Schizopolis" was released. This is a new genre in which director Steven Soderbergh tries himself. Here he also plays one of the main roles, acts as a composer, cameraman, scriptwriter. The film begins with an original introductory word, which states that the film is rather confusing, but that makes it more interesting to watch, as everything becomes clearer with each viewing. The film gives a reference to the film eclecticism of experimental cinema of the 70s. In 1999, "The Englishman" was released. Steven Soderbergh shoots his films with a unique editing technique, which is what attracts iconic American actors. For example, Terence Stamp and Peter Fonda starred in this film.
In 2000, 2 films are released: "Erin Brockovich" and "Traffic". Both films receive multiple Oscar nominations, making Soderbergh the first director since 1939 to be nominated for Best Director for two films simultaneously. He ended up winning an award for Traffic, a crime drama written by Stephen Gahan. The tape described all stages of the drug trade, from international shipments to the sale to end customers. This is the director's longest film to date. She took 147 minutes. The painting "Erin Brockovich" was based on realevents. This is a social drama that centers on a single mother, played by Julia Roberts, who is in a legal battle with a company that releases waste into the groundwater. Perhaps at that time the film was too difficult for the "Oscar", but the critics were interested in it.
Working with Clooney
Acquaintance with George Clooney gave Soderbergh a lot, but the actor did not remain in the loser either. He was first called to "Out of Sight" by Steven Soderbergh. He rarely made films with romantic overtones, and Clooney was interested in the script. His partner was Jennifer Lopez, and the plot was based on the romance between a bank robber and a federal marshal.
In 2001, one of the director's most financially successful films, Ocean's 11, was released. This is a stylized remake of the 1960 film of the same name. Starring a galaxy of stars - George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and Matt Damon. The fees amounted to more than 183 million dollars. The plot was simple, but incredibly original. A team of friends could beat anyone and often used it. The film is a mix of comedy, detective and heist film. Every scene has Soderbergh's trademark, slightly "relaxed" humor.
In 2004, the sequel to Ocean's 12 was released, where Soderbergh replayed almost all the themes from the first film and even surpassed the original.
And in 2007, the third part of the film "Ocean's 13" was released, where the heroes gathered to take revenge on the owner of the largestcasino, performed by Al Pacino. To do this, they need to ruin the casino. All sorts of frauds are being used.
Soderbergh also worked with Clooney in 2005, when he filmed the pilot of the series Unscripted about young people looking for work in Hollywood. He entrusted the rest of the series to be directed by George Clooney based on a script by Grant Heslov.
Development
The director's picture "In all its glory", which is essentially a continuation of the tape "Sex, Lies and Video", became a low-budget. And then Steven Soderbergh continued to work on film adaptations again. His filmography in 2002 was replenished with the fantastic drama "Solaris", based on the novel by Stanislav Lem. The film adaptation was very different from Andrei Tarkovsky's version, since Soderbergh focused on the relationship between a man and a woman and their love. The film was produced by James Cameron, and George Clooney was invited to the main role.
Next was K Street, a semi-documentary miniseries about lobbyists in Washington. Again, work was done with George Clooney. The 2004 film Eros was a collaboration between Soderbergh, Wong Kar-wai and Michelangelo Antonioni.
Soderbergh tried not to stay within the limits and, as proof of this, shot an experimental low-budget film "The Bubble" without a special script and professional actors. The entire film was filmed with a digital camera and released simultaneously for theaters and DVD. This is the first such experience, but Soderbergh has six more such films planned.
To be continued
In 2013, the film "Side Effect" was released. Steven Soderbergh became its director. The film was shot in the genre of psychological thriller. Perhaps this is Soderbergh's last work. At least he made such a statement. After working on Side Effect, he managed to direct 10 episodes of the Knickerbocker Hospital project, was a cameraman on the film Magic Mike XXL. He hasn't done feature films yet. Well, maybe he really wants to leave the movies.
