Steven Soderbergh Chats 'Magic Mike', 'Liberace' & 'Side Effects'

ComingSoon.net got a chance to interview the Oscar-winning filmmaker and (apparently) soon-to-be retired, director Steven Soderbergh.  His latest movie Haywire (Jan. 20) had been filmed a few years ago stars Channing Tatum, who can also be seen in the directors other film Magic Mike (June 29).  Soderbergh has developed a strange fascination with the actor, considering Tatum was a male stripper.

He spke briefly about his interests in Tatum’s past and the world of male strippers:

"When Channing told me that he was developing a movie about male strippers, that just seemed like a homerun to me.  I said, 'Dude, that's one of the best ideas I've ever heard,'…  It's a buddy movie, in a way.  It's got him and this young kid who sort of falls into this job. It's connected to that film in the sense of like you're saying, 'I haven't seen this world on screen, not like this.'

When comparing the movie to the British comedy The Full Monty, he said:

"I think it's got that same spirit.  It's not a dark movie at all.  It's not an exposé of this world.  It's almost like a Robert Altman movie.  It's very funny, but it's because the characters are funny.  It's not like "joke funny," it's not like there are gags in it.  It's just, the people are funny and the situations are funny."

ComingSoon.net even went so far as to ask whether audiences could expect “the full monty” on screen, you know, since the film is about male strippers:

"There's one shot that I'm curious to see how the MPAA is going to react to.  I'm hoping we'll be okay because it's played for humor.  It's one of the things in the movie that gets the biggest laugh, but I can never predict how they're going to respond.  I mean, I don't know why we got an R on 'Haywire.'"

The director will soon be directing The Side Effects, that also stars Channing Tatum, Jude Law (previously collaborating together on Contagion) and Blake Lively.  He convinced screenwriter Scott Z. Burns that he wanted to direct after abandoning The Man From U.N.C.L.E., this is what he had to say:

"I've been bugging him about it for years and when 'U.N.C.L.E' fell apart, I called him and said, 'Look, I know I've been bugging you.  This is the last time.  You can say no, but can I have this?'  I guess I wore him down and he said 'okay.'  It's a thriller, but it's fairly contained.  It's kind of a psychological chamber piece.  It's really, really good, but the scale of it's very manageable and it's shooting here in New York, which is great."

I’m sure this is where Soderbergh has gone off his rockers, but he goes on to explain how Channing Tatum ranks up against Matt Damon, George Clooney and even Julia Roberts, previous and frequent collaborators:

"I think it's a combination of ability and attitude…  When you meet somebody that's good and that you just share a sort of ethos with you about the work and how to work, it becomes appealing to repeat that experience because your quality of life is affected positively."

The Side Effects shooting beins shooting in New York City in May, while Behind The Candelabra begins shooting in July for HBO.  His long in the works Liberace project, which stars Michael Douglas as a gay lounge singer, gives his expectations of how viewers will react to the project:

"Well, I think most people don't know him at all.  He was the first of a certain kind of entertainer, do you know what I mean?  I mean, you don't really have Elton John and Cher and Madonna unless he comes first.  There was something very specific about the one name thing, but It's just the kind of performing that was unique and that now we see a lot of, but when he did it, nobody was doing it."

He even planned to tackle some 3D filmmaking, wanting to experiment with Cleopatra film:

"We were going to do the Cleopatra musical in that format, but then that couldn't happen.  That was really the only thing I had that was appropriate for that format, so it looks like I may miss that one."

Certainly all these projects make it seem like Soderbergh is planning for retirement, but the director keeps shrugging off a definitive answer:

"I don't know.  I don't have different speeds.  It's either I'm all the way in or I'm all the way out, so I'll just drop off the grid for a bit and see what happens."