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CALENDAR
8th February: Side Effects released (US)
15th March: Side Effects released (UK)
THE FANLISTING
There are 445 fans listed in the Steven Soderbergh fanlisting. If you're a Soderbergh fan, add your name to the list!
UPCOMING PROJECTS
LET THEM ALL TALK
Information | Photos | Official website
Released: 2020
KILL SWITCH
Information | Photos | Official website
Released: 2020
ADVERTS
NEW & UPCOMING DVDS
Now available from Amazon.com:
 Haywire
Contagion
Now available from Amazon.co.uk:
Contagion
DVDs that include an audio commentary track from Steven:
Clean, Shaven - Criterion Collection
Point Blank
The Graduate (40th Anniversary Collector's Edition)
The Third Man - Criterion Collection
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
ADVERTS
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Soderbergh: Rat Pack drowned in Ocean
(by Teletext.co.uk, February 2002) Director Steven Soderbergh
had a lot to live up to when he remade the 1960 Rat Pack classic
Ocean's Eleven - the legends of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy
Davis Jr.
"The problem is with these
names you have to bust your ass not to get beaten up. Everybody's thinking
'it just better be good'," admits Soderbergh.
"People are basically waiting to see if you screw it up. Nobody's going
'wow, congratulations'."
The high powered cast was essential, says the acclaimed director of
Erin Brockovich and Traffic. Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt
Damon and Julia Roberts star.
"The obvious camaraderie amongst the members of the original Rat Pack was
what I thought we should try and emulate," explains Soderbergh.
"We tried to cast with it in mind - that obvious spirit towards each other
that was really infectious."
Soderbergh also wanted a stronger storyline than the original so
scriptwriter Ted Griffin fleshed out the characters and brought in a
female role.
"It was as close to a perfect piece of entertainment that I have ever
read," says Soderbergh.
"The movie isn't mean or gratuitous, nobody is humiliated for no reason.
It's probably the least threatening film I've ever made in a way."
Ocean's Eleven is
about a gang who aim to pull off a huge heist on a Las Vegas casino.
Steven Soderbergh doesn't speak highly of the Sinatra version.
"The original is remembered fondly by those who haven't seen it. It's a
wonderful document to have of those guys, but if you watch the movie for
entertainment, it's excruciating."
After making hard-hitting drug trade movie Traffic, Soderbergh
wanted to work on a less serious film.
"Ocean's Eleven was my opportunity to make a movie that has no
desire except to give you pleasure, where you just surrender without
embarrassment or regret," he says.
"I didn't think dark or mean ideas had a place in a movie like this. I
wanted it to be sort of light entertainment. We're not after casino reform
with it."
Renowned for making dramas such as Erin Brockovich, Soderbergh
ditches light entertainment in his next film, a low budget follow-up to
Sex Lies And Videotape entitled Full Frontal.
He then reteams with George Clooney in the war on terrorism drama See
No Evil, based on memoirs of CIA agent Robert Baers, followed by
sci-fi Solaris.
"These are punishment for people who like Ocean's Eleven," laughs
the director.
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