Steven Soderbergh, at this moment, is probably multitasking between half a dozen different projects. The prolific filmmaker doesn’t have any need for a fidget spinner, because if he ever feels antsy, he likely just starts working on something new. Later this month, his wildly entertaining “Logan Lucky” will hit cinemas, but of course, he’s got even more projects cooking.
GQ reveals that his recently announced, iPhone shot “Unsane” starring Claire Foy and Juno Temple is a horror movie. It would be first for Soderbergh, which makes us pretty excited to see what he’ll do with the genre, particularly when utilizing a smartphone. Meanwhile, his long under wraps, “interactive” HBO movie “Mosaic” starring Garrett Hedlund and Sharon Stone will arrive this fall. If that’s not enough, remember last summer when Soderbergh was toying with a possible movie about the Panama Papers scandal? Well, that’s still a possibility, with Scott Z. Burns (“The Informant!,” “Contagion,” “Side Effects“) working on a script based on the book “Secrecy World” by Jake Bernstein.
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As for “Logan Lucky,” while the movie might be ready to go, Soderbergh has been plenty busy in drumming up the hype. The New York Times goes pretty deep into the director’s disruptive distribution model he’s employing for the release of his heist comedy, via his shingle, Fingerprint Releasing. Looking to upend traditional studio models, Soderbergh raised the money to finance the $29 million movie, and got his cast to work for scale (with backend money to kick in if the picture does well). Most intriguingly, he brokered a deal with Bleecker Street to get the movie into cinemas, paying them a bargain basement $1 million fee to promote the movie, using marketing materials he personally approved, in exchange for a piece of ticket sales if the movie does well.
That approach keeps costs down and makes it easier for “Logan Lucky” to turn a profit. If he had gone to a major studio, they’d be spending tens of millions on marketing, making the potential of even breaking even all the more tricky.
So, to recap, Soderbergh made a movie on a iPhone, has some kind of app-enabled movie coming, did his own marketing for “Logan Lucky,” and is working on a movie based on an alarming true story. What did you do today?