After the massive success of Magic Mike, ponderous failure of Side Effects and with the Liberace biopic Beyond the Candelabra coming to HBO in the next few months, director Steven Soderbergh shocked audiences and pundits by announcing his retirement earlier this year, allegedly due to frustrations with the industry. So who better than Soderbergh himself to give the SF International Film Festival’s annual State of Cinema speech this year? And what a speech it was.
In the days between then and now, the prolific Hollywood/indie hybrid gave an interview about Magic Mike 2, published a novella on Twitter, and probably did any number of other things that didn’t get posted on the internet. His speech on Saturday at the SF International was originally only recorded for "archival purposes"’ but loads of web interest, inaccurate quotations and incomplete transcripts were enough to get the SF Film Society to take it public yesterday afternoon.
Anyone with even a passing interest in film, futurism, and the state of the industry today will want to take a peek below as Soderbergh breaks it down about the shrinking indie market, the spiraling cost an international blockbuster, and why a certain rodent might be smarter than today's Hollywood execs.