Steven Soderbergh is clearly bored with standard Hollywood filmmaking. He’s always been a filmmaker more interested in trying new things than landing a big paycheck. That desire has never been more evident than with his most recent project, “Mosaic.”
For those who aren’t aware of “Mosaic,” its unlike anything you’ve seen from Soderbergh before. The premise is simple – a successful writer, played by Sharon Stone, is murdered. The story from there is your standard murder mystery. However, what separates “Mosaic” from the everyday episode of “Law & Order” is how the show (if you can call it that) is more of a choose-your-own-adventure game. Controlled by a downloadable app, viewers/users can control how the story evolves and how the crime gets solved. For those averse to trying to watch “Mosaic” through the app can wait for HBO to premiere it in episodic chunks early next year.
If that sounds complicated to follow, imagine what making it was like. In a recent Vulture interview, Soderbergh reveals just how much time and effort he and writer Ed Solomon put into this project. From mapping out all the story branches to then taking the seven and a half hours of footage and editing it for HBO, “Mosaic” is a heavy undertaking. However, that won’t deter Soderbergh from making another season of the show.
“We’re developing at least one more. This new one goes a lot deeper. It deals with a group of characters who are constantly on their phones and communicating with each other, and so that component is going to be very central to how information is transmitted. It’s going to be a much more active piece, I think, narratively for the viewer,” explained Soderbergh.
The success of “Mosaic” is going to be interesting to follow in the coming months. Will people buy into this new way of storytelling? Is it going to be more popular in the HBO limited series version? Intriguingly, the small screen take will feature different footage from the app experience.
“There’s a fair amount of material that didn’t make the app version that will be in the broadcast linear version that will air on HBO in January. We shot a lot of stuff!” Soderbergh said.
One thing is for sure, Soderbergh is yet again at the forefront of something new and innovative, and we’re excited to see what’s next.