| |
|
Steven Soderbergh |
|
Director / Cinematographer /
Editor / Screenwriter / Producer |
 |
|
1963 - |
|
Born January 14,
Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
|
Key
Production Countries: USA,
Australia |
|
Key Genres:
Crime,
Drama,
Caper,
Ensemble Film,
Comedy Drama, Comedy |
|
Key
Collaborators: Cliff Martinez (Composer), Philip Messina (Production Designer),
George
Clooney (Leading Player), Matt Damon (Leading Character Player), Stephen Mirrione (Editor),
Gregory Jacobs (Producer), Don Cheadle
(Character Player), John Hardy (Producer), Elliott Gould (Character Player),
David Holmes (Composer) |
|
|
Highly Recommended:
The Underneath (1995), The
Limey (1999), Bubble (2006) |
|
Recommended:
Out
of Sight (1998), Erin Brockovich (2000)^, Traffic (2000)^, Solaris (2002),
The Good German (2006) |
|
Worth a Look: sex,
lies, and videotape (1989), King of the Hill (1993), Ocean's Eleven
(2001), Che (2008), The Informant! (2009), Contagion
(2011), Haywire (2011) |
|
Approach with Caution:
Schizopolis (1996), Ocean's Twelve (2004), Ocean's Thirteen (2007) |
|
^ Listed in TSPDT's
21st Century's Most
Acclaimed Films
section. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
Links:
[
Amazon
] [
IMDB ] [
TCMDB ] [
All-Movie
Guide ] [
Senses
of Cinema: Great Directors ] [
Film Reference ]
[
Steven
Soderbergh Online ] [
Wikipedia ] [
Believer Interview ] [
UGO Interview (2011) ] [
Interview:
Out of Sight ] [
A.V. Club Interview (2012) ]
[
Time
Out Article (2007) ]
[
Salon Interview (2000) ] [
tribute.ca Biography ] [
Guardian Unlimited: Richard Lester Interviewed by Steven Soderbergh
(1999) ] [
A.V. Club Interview
(1999) ] [
Independent Article (2012) ] [
Guardian Articles
] |
|
Books:
[
Steven Soderbergh (Contemporary Film Directors)
] [
The Philosophy of Steven Soderbergh ] [
Steven
Soderbergh: Interviews ] [
Steven
Soderbergh (Pocket Essentials) ] [
Getting
Away with it or the Further Adventures of the Luckiest Bastard You Ever
Saw ] |
|
|
    |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
"In
1989, at the age of 26, Steven Soderbergh won the Palme d'Or for
his debut feature, sex, lies and videotape. Overnight he
came the darling of the US independent movie scene. However,
since this early acclaim, Soderbergh has confounded both critics
and public alike with his choice of material. Both idiosyncratic
and diverse, Soderbergh's work is disparate and difficult to
categorise, although he does tend to return to a recurring theme
of a solitary individual seeking truth in a dishonest world of
(self) deceit."
-
Peter Homden & Ian Haydn Smith (Contemporary North American Film Directors, 2002) |
|
| |
|
|
| |
"Soderbergh
was often compared to other young independent American
filmmakers, notably
Jim Jarmusch
and Hal Hartley. However, his film
style has turned out to be much less immediately identifiable
than Hartley's in particular.
Overall, one can say that in his best films, he tells stories in
concise and polished ways, reminiscent of classic Hollywood
models, yet with fresh, unusual structures and surprising turns
from scene to scene; and his cinematography is usually superb,
notably in framing and lighting, though always adaptive to the
overall subject and mood." -
Joseph Milicia (The St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia, 1998) |
|
| |
|
|
| |
"A
talented American director who, after years of initial struggle,
was nominated for an Oscar with his first film, Sex, Lies and
Videotape. That was a cult success all over the world, but
since then Soderbergh has struggled to repeat its impact.
Although he has done some good work, none of his ensuing films
has caught the public imagination in the same way." -
David
Quinlan (Quinlan's Illustrated Guide to Film Directors, 1999)
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
"I
look at other filmmakers and see skills in them that I wish I
had but I know that I don't. I feel like I have to work really
hard to keep myself afloat, doing what I do. But I find it
pleasurable." -
Steven Soderbergh |
|
| |
|
|
| |
"It's
pretty clear to me that working as a director for hire agrees
with me. I like it. The films that have come out of that, I
personally like better than the ones that didn't." -
Steven Soderbergh |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Please
note that the rating given for this director (see top-right) is based
only on the films we have seen (listed above). Films by this director
that we haven't seen include Kafka (1991), Full Frontal (2002), The
Girlfriend Experience (2009), and And Everything is
Going Fine (2010). |
|
|
|
8 |
| |
|
"Often regarded as the most independently minded
director in Hollywood. Soderbergh began his career with a
landmark of cinematic self-reflexivity, sex, lies, and
videotape (1989), and every subsequent film has been,
among other things, a meditation on the surface of the
screen. Just as Soderbergh goes back and forth between
independent filmmaking and Hollywood, shuttling from
no-budget movies like Schizopolis (1996) to glamorous
star vehicles like Out of Sight (1998), Soderbergh’s
films circle back and forth between reality and artifice,
refusing both Hollywood’s simulacrum and the naturalism of
John Sayles."
-
Steven Dillon, The Solaris Effect: Art
& Artifice in Contemporary American Film |
| |
 |
| |
|
●
21st Century Top
50 |
|
●
23 Best Film Directors in the World Today
(The Guardian, 2012) |
|
●
Ranked 4th on
The Guardian's 2004 List of the World's 40 Best Directors |
|
●
501 Movie Directors: A
Comprehensive Guide to the Greatest Filmmakers |
|
|
|
See Also |
|
●
Robert Altman |
|
●
John Boorman |
|
●
George Clooney |
|
●
Francis Ford
Coppola |
|
●
Jonathan Demme |
|
●
Neil LaBute |
|
●
Richard Linklater |
|
●
David Mamet |
|
●
Michael Mann |
|
●
Mike Nichols |
|
●
Christopher Nolan |
|
●
Michael Winterbottom |
| |
|
|
|
|