Many of us were wondering whether Steven Soderbergh was ramping up the crazy for his intended “Cleo” musical, or simply had been dazzled drunk by the “Avatar” footage when he announced that one of his main characters in “Moneyball” — a baseball stats film — would be represented in animated form.
At the time he said, he needed a narrative gimmick so the picture wouldn’t be stale or dry (it is about baseball statistics and how to improve your team, afterall), but it an interview with ComingSoon, he makes his intentions much more clear: the film is going to be a somewhat of a comedy, which is probably the reason why Demetri Martin was hired to co-star alongside Brad Pitt (who is also good in goofy comedy, see “Burn After Reading”)
“No, it’s gonna be funny. I think it’s gonna be dramatic, but I think it’s gonna be funnier than people expect. That’s another situation where I’m injecting a lot of real people playing the roles,” Soderbergh said of the film.
Ok, what about “The Informant” with Matt Damon that hits this fall (October 9) and is said to be a dark comedy. Based on a true story, Damon stars as a bi-polar FBI informant who acted both as whistleblower and part of the problem, embezzling money from his company amidst a larger price-fixing scandal in the agriculutural industry.
Sounds kinda dry, right? Sure, but it sounds like the book it was based on was serious and dramatic and Soderbergh and his screenwriters tweaked it to milk all its wry and arch qualities.
“We heard the story on NPR, got the rights to the book, started working on it – this is 2001. We picked up the book, I sent it to Matt [Damon] who said, “I’m in.” We hired Scott Burns to write the script. It was sitting there waiting for a long time, waiting for a slot for me and for Matt. Again, that’s a $22 million movie and we decided at a certain point to make it a comedy, which I think was the best move. It’s not “The Insider,” it’s more like “Citizen Ruth.” I think Matt’s genuinely hilarious in it, playing a kind of… sort of Willy Loman on acid.”
How excellent does that sound? Was this why Marvin Hamlisch — he of the schmaltzy ’70s soundtrack pop mien — hired to compose the score? Will we get a deliciously ironic teardrop pop soundtrack like we’ve hoped for? Let’s hope so. We can’t wait to see this one.
Also, an additional did you know: Soderbergh tried to make “Human Nature” before Michel Gondry did [ed. if memory serves right that script has been around a long time and several people tried and failed].