A good director can be seen right away. According to his imagination. According to his work. According to his biography. Now the name is Soderberg Steven, but what do we know about this man, except for his films? We’ll try to find out more about him. Perhaps then the secret of his success and the reason for the endless presence in all lists of winners 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, Stephen Soderberg enrolls in animator courses at his father’s university and shoots the first short films there (Janitor). The guy’s job is exciting, and after school he tries to realize the “great American dream” - to move to Hollywood. For some time he kept afloat, working as a freelance editor, and then returned home to work in a video studio for the production of commercials and video clips. Along the way, Steven Soderbergh continues to make short films and write scripts. In 1986, he makes a documentary for which he is nominated for a Grammy.
Success and failure
Steven Soderberg is experiencing his first directorial success in an alcoholic captivity, but he is doing his best to solve the problem. In 1987, he filmed a short film with the study of sexual relations, Winston. Then he works on a logical continuation - already a full-length tape "Sex, Falsehood and Video". The premiere of his work falls precisely on the Sanders Film Festival, where Stephen Soderberg becomes the owner of the Golden Palm Branch and is nominated for an Oscar for the best original screenplay.
Personal life
The next six years, Soderberg Steven sets up his life, divorces his wife, actress Betsy Brantley. He has a daughter, Sarah. He is working hard on the second full-length film - the film "Kafka", on which he invited Jeremy Irons himself to the main role. The film very ambiguously describes the life and work of Franz Kafka, based on the works of the writer.
Next is work on the film "King of the Hill", which tells the story of the boy's life during the Great Depression. Soderberg is being revealed little by little. Stephen demonstrates a game with colors and a love of non-linear narrative. He does it especially vividly in the 1995 crime drama noir "There, Inside". In the center of the plot is a robbery of a car of collectors. The next film, "Anatomy of Gray, " tells about the experiments in the field of alternative medicine, which are conducted by a famous American actor.
Hard work
In 1996, an experimental comedy - "Schizopolis" was released. This is a new genre in which director Stephen Soderberg tries himself. Here he also plays one of the main roles, acts as a composer, operator, script writer. The film begins with an original introduction, in which it is reported that the film is rather confusing, but it’s more interesting to watch it, as with each viewing everything will become clearer. The film gives a reference to the cinema eclecticism of experimental cinema of the 70s. In 1999, the Englishman was released. Stephen Soderberg makes his films with a unique installation technique, which is why he attracts cult American actors. For example, Terence Stamp and Peter Fonda have starred in this film.
In 2000, 2 films were released: Erin Brockovich and Traffic. Both paintings receive several Oscar nominations at once, making Soderberg the first director since 1939 to be nominated for the best director of a frame for two works. In the end, he received an award for Traffic, a crime drama scripted by Stephen Hahn. The tape described all stages of the drug trade, from international supplies to sales to end-users. Today it is the longest tape director. She took 147 minutes. The picture "Erin Brockovich" was based on real events. This is a social drama, where in the center of the plot is a single mother performed by Julia Roberts, who is in litigation with a company that releases waste into groundwater. Perhaps at that time the film was too complicated for the Oscar, but he was interested in critics.
Work with Clooney
Acquaintance with George Clooney gave a lot to Soderbergh, but the actor did not stay in the loser. For the first time, he was called to "Out of Sight" by Stephen Soderberg. He rarely shot films with a romantic connotation, and Clooney became interested in the script. His partner was Jennifer Lopez, and the plot was based on romance between a bank robber and a federal marshal.
In 2001, one of the most financially successful films of the director, "11 Friends of Ocean, " 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 furnish anyone and often used it. The film is a mixture of comedy, detective and robbery. Each scene has a signature, slightly "relaxed" humor of Soderberg’s heroes.
In 2004, the continuation of "Ocean's 12 Friends" was released, where Soderberg 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 Friends” was released, where the characters gathered to take revenge on the owner of the largest casino, which was performed by Al Pacino. To do this, they need to bust the casino. All kinds of frauds are used.
Soderberg also collaborated with Clooney in 2005, when he was filming a pilot episode of the Unscripted series about young people looking for work in Hollywood. The rest of the series, he entrusted the shooting of George Clooney according to the script of Grant Heslov.
Development
The film “In all its glory”, which is essentially a continuation of the tape “Sex, Lies, and Video, ” has become low-budget. And then again continued to work on adaptations of Stephen Soderbergh. 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 the version of Andrei Tarkovsky, since Soderberg focused on the relationship of man and woman and their love. James Cameron became the producer of the picture, and George Clooney was invited to the main role.
Next was the semi-documentary miniseries "K Street" about lobbyists in Washington. Again, work was done with George Clooney. The 2004 film "Eros" was a collaboration between Soderberg, Wong Karvay and Michelangelo Antonioni.
Soderberg tried not to remain within the framework and, as proof of this, he shot the experimental low-budget film Bubble without a special script and professional actors. The entire film was shot on a digital camera and released simultaneously for movie theaters and DVDs. This is the first such experience, but Soderberg has planned six more such films.
