Soderbergh Contemplating Retirement?

[PsychoPere]

According to The Los Angeles Times, Matt Damon claims that Steven Soderbergh is contemplating retirement - after three more films.

"He's kind of exhausted with everything that interested him in terms of form. He's not interested in telling stories. Cinema interested him in terms of form and that’s it. He says, 'If I see another over-the-shoulder shot, I'm going to blow my brains out.'" [...] "After this movie we're doing 'Liberace' next summer with Michael Douglas, and then he might do one more movie after that with George [Clooney], and then after that he's retiring."

The Clooney film is presumably The Man from U.N.C.L.E. See the link for more quotes, including Damon invoking the example of Clint Eastwood for Soderbergh, and musing on becoming a director himself.


If Soderbergh does decide to retire, I'll be, to put it mildly, damn disappointed. He's such a versatile filmmaker and it would be a real shame to lose his talents when he's still so young.

 

[JacksonArcher]

I hope he's still doing Contagion.

 

[PsychoPere]

That's the one he's working on right now with Damon.

 

[Too Much Fun]

If he retires, I think he's had a great run and as the famous quote goes, "better to burn out than fade away" (no, I don't mean he should kill himself. ). We need more people quitting while they're ahead and retiring at the top of their game instead of sticking around way too long and tarnishing their legacies with crap. I don't think Soderbergh will ever top the one-two (THREE!) punch of "Out of Sight", "The Limey", and "Traffic" (how often does a director make that many awesome movies back to back?), so I'd say he's reached his full potential already.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ Many thought he'd peaked after Sex, Lies and Videotape and it probably wasn't until Out of Sight that he really reappeared on a lot of people's radar. Mind you, I think his early movie King of the Hill is a neglected masterpiece, that hold up alongside anything he's done.

I wouldn't be surprised if he takes a break and comes back reinvigorated but it's hard to see such a genuine cinematic talent quitting what he's best at.

 

[PsychoPere]

Soderbergh has confirmed his plans for retirement. He recently finished up Contagion with Matt Damon, will soon start Haywire, plans to direct Liberace with Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, then hopes to finish with George Clooney and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ I predict more comebacks than Sinatra and Ali combined.

 

[Harvey]

I wouldn't mind if his version of "retirement" means he's contemplating a career making more experimental films. His current work in that vein has been hit or miss, but at least it's not the conventional stuff he seems to be bored with.