Moviemaker of the Week: Steven Soderbergh

In 1989 Steven Soderbergh began the Sundance Revolution–the beginning of the independent film movement as we know it today–when he premiered his low-budget feature sex, lies, and videotape at the iconic Park City festival. Its unconventional story and exceptional performances created the fest’s first true bidding frenzy among attending distributors and earned its director quite a few awards, including the Palme d’Or at that year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Soderbergh returned to Cannes this May with the premiere of his most recent project, Ocean’s Thirteen, the second sequel to his hit 2001 crime caper, Ocean’s Eleven. Ready to defend one of their own, the Ocean’s band of characters reunites with the goal of taking down one of Sin City’s wealthiest casino owners. Like its predecessors, the movie stars an impressive assemblage of today’s hottest acting talent, including Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Al Pacino, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle and frequent Soderbergh collaborator George Clooney.

After directing Clooney in 1998’s Out of Sight, the moviemaking pair established a production company, Section Eight, out of which emerged most future directorial efforts from both men. In 2001 Soderbergh achieved a feat few before have ever experienced: Two Best Director Academy Award nominations for Erin Brockovich and Traffic–the latter of which brought him home the trophy.

“For me, as a producer, there’s Steven Soderbergh and then there’s everybody else,” explains Jerry Weintraub, who has worked on all three Ocean’s movies with the renowned director. “In everything we have done together, we have a wonderful partnership. Any accolade that can be said about the guy, he lives up to. He is simply great.”