Steven Soderbergh

Film Fanatic

George Miller Not Directing ‘Man of Steel 2’

About a month ago rumors began swirling that Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller was going to make Man of Steel 2. Both franchises are produced by Warner Bros. and coming off of the universal acclaim for Fury Road, Miller pretty much had his pick of projects.

But instead of making another blockbuster sequel, Miller has decided to do something a little more intimate. While speaking with Digital Spy, Miller confirmed that he met with the studio about a DC movie, but eventually passed.

“I hope the next film I make is a very small film without any special effects and not many stunts,” said Miller.

While these comments are disappointing for selfish fans like me who hadn’t seen an action film from Miller in more than thirty years prior to Fury Road, it makes sense considering the highly-publicized problems while making the latest Mad Max. Between Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron fighting on set to punishing weather conditions leading to re-shoots, the production of Fury Road would have been hard on any director, let alone someone who’s 70.

Another thing to consider in Miller’s decision is that he almost made a superhero movie fifteen years ago. With a cast already assembled and waiting in Australia, Warner Bros. ultimately pulled the plug on Miller’s Justice League: Mortal. So perhaps he was a little gun-shy in attempting to make another superhero film.

After watching Fury Road multiple times, I would actually prefer he take over the Terminator franchise. It’s in total disarray at the moment and his ability to shoot car chases practically and work with simple plots are two signature ingredients in any great Terminator movie and those elements were absent in Genysis.

If you compare his career to that of Ridley Scott, Miller has made only three movies since 2000 with two of them being animated (Happy Feet 1 and 2). Scott on the other hand has made thirteen and he’s nearly eight years older than Miller. It might be an unfair comparison considering the only director to rival Scott in work is Woody Allen, but it would still be nice to see Miller take on more projects.

Hyperbole aside, Mad Max: Fury Road is the best action movie of the decade and after watching it I thought to myself, “Where have you been George Miller!” To be honest any Miller project is a welcomed sight.

Steven Soderbergh Finding New Life in Television

A couple of years ago, Steven Soderbergh announced he would be retiring from filmmaking. Many people, myself included, didn’t necessarily believe him considering he was an Oscar-winning director with immense talent and he was still young (He’s 52).

But as far as feature-filmmaking goes, he seems to have been a man of his word. His last directorial effort on the big screen was Side Effects released in early 2013. Since then, he’s made Behind the Candelabra for HBO and he’s about to release the new season of The Knick on Cinemax for which he’s directed all 20 episodes over two seasons.

The Knick is a show I’ve been excited to check out, but as for Soderbergh’s decision to move from movies to television, he believes the constrictive nature of big-screen storytelling is the main reason.

“Just from my very personal, subjective point of view, I don’t have an interest in making another theatrical film unless my attitude changes or the business changes,” said Soderbergh to The Hollywood Reporter. “There are a series of things that have contributed to it — I think the audiences have played a role, the studios have a role in it — but film is increasingly fear based in its decision-making, and that’s not a good base to be creative.”

We are in the “Golden Age of Television” according to many and with shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, True Detective, Fargo and Mr. Robot creating and developing fascinating worlds and building strong characters, why would someone as ambitious as Soderbergh stick with a two-hour movie?

For someone who’s worked with the likes of George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt, Soderbergh has always seemed like an outsider. For every Traffic, Erin Brockovich and Ocean’s movie, he’s made experimental films with non-actors like The Girlfriend Experience and Bubble. He’s reached a point in his career where he can make whatever he wants and to him, working in television maximizes his creativity and freedom.

I have a feeling one day he’ll return to feature films, but for now he’s enjoying the small screen. At least he’s not retiring all together.

‘Kingsman 2’ Planning to Shoot in Early 2016

It’s certainly been the year of the spy movie. Between Spy, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, CitizenFour, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and the upcoming Bridge of Spies and Spectre, 2015 has been infiltrated by a number of sleuthing individuals.

But there was one spy movie that came before all of them and that was Kingsman: The Secret Service. Directed by Matthew Vaughn, the movie opened in early February and finished with more than $400 million in worldwide box office receipts.

The movie was a surprise hit for Fox and as of this week, it’s still the highest-grossing live-action movie of the year for the studio (Although that could change with The Martian landing in theaters this weekend).

When a movie makes money, studios immediately think “sequel” and Kingsman is no exception. Fox is planning an April 2016 start date for Kingsman 2 which will once again star Taron Egerton whose stock has risen considerably since his breakout role in Kingsman.

The only concern about their targeted start date is that Egerton will be starring in Robin Hood: Origins (Yes, another Robin Hood movie) which will have a lengthy production beginning in February of next year.

Kingsman was certainly a unique spy movie with a distinct tone of edge and sophistication. It was also very different from the other two spy franchises (Bond and Mission: Impossible) so the idea that more are coming is great news.