Steven Soderbergh is the type of filmmaker that is never going to hold back details of a project for fear of saying too much. Similar to Quentin Tarantino, Soderbergh is someone that will gladly talk about all aspects of his films, as well as the projects that never were and some that are soon to be. So, you better believe there were nuggets of gold when Soderbergh was a guest on a recent episode of the Happy. Sad. Confused. podcast.
During the interview, Horowitz brought up a project that was rumored to have Soderbergh attached to, but never came to fruition – “Fantastic Four.” Yes, there were rumors that the filmmaker was once attached to the Marvel superhero property, as crazy as that sounds. Soderbergh’s reply is basically something like, LOL, no, so put that rumor to bed if it’s ever to resurface again.
“That was not in my bag of interests growing up. I’m not a snob, but I just want to do a good job [on all the movies I make],” he said about his disinterest in making superhero movies. “An ‘Ocean’s‘ movie is as close as I can get to that kind of a superhero movie or something that has slightly outsized activity in it. That’s about as far as I can go.”
Soderbergh’s been asked about James Bond before and has admitted in the past he’s had meetings with Barbara Broccoli to direct a Bond movie, but those discussions ultimately went nowhere. He talks about it again.
“Absolutely, I love that world,” he said, confirming the talks. “We were at odds about some things that were important. We had some great conversations. It was fun to think about, but we just couldn’t…. the last ten yards were, we just couldn’t do it, we couldn’t figure it out. “
Of course, some of his ideas for a Bond film went into “Haywire,” which he admits, “Aspects of it have shown up elsewhere. I would say, there are things in ‘Haywire,’ in terms of its approach to the character, and it’s not a big movie, but there’s a little bit of activity in it. That’s a hint of the kind of attitude I was looking for.”
“They’re doing very well,” he said, suggesting Broccoli and her Bond franchise is perfectly fine without him. “I hope they’re able to figure out the release of the new one.”
Another little tidbit surfaces. In a Variety article from 2000, apparently, Luke and Owen Wilson were originally scheduled to play the young brothers that Casey Affleck and James Caan eventually played in the ‘Ocean’s’ series. But apparently, when the writer’s strike surfaced, they lost those two actors, directors, and Joel and Ethan Coen were considered.
Asked if he remembers this, Soderbergh said, “I don’t, but it doesn’t sound like a terrible idea. And I’m sure George [Clooney] had a hand in that because he had just worked with them, and if it didn’t get shot fairly quickly by one of us, they would have shot it down pretty quickly, I’m sure. Hey, it’s not the worst casting idea I’ve ever heard, I’ll say that.”
READ MORE: George Clooney Reveals Why He Had To Drop Out Of Steven Soderbergh’s ‘No Sudden Move’
And just for fun, Soderbergh shared what he believes is the worst casting idea he’s ever heard: He cast ‘Crocodile Dundee‘ Paul Hogan in ‘Kafka‘ in a dream, while production has already started, but in the dream, he had forgotten and only realized, much to his horror, that he had cast Hogan on the start of production. He always has anxiety dreams/nightmares about problems that can’t be solved on set. “I’d forgotten about that dream until I’d dove back in [re-editing ‘Kafka’] and remembered. I had a beard at the time, and I woke up in the course of one night, I had a big white patch in my beard. I was stressed.”
As for what’s on the horizon, Soderbergh, who is apparently already done with a cut of “No Sudden Move,” said there has already been a virtual friends and family first-cut screening of his upcoming HBO Max crime thriller. And he says he has two new films in the works (doesn’t get into very many details) and is hoping by the spring, he’ll be ready to shoot IF COVID-19 protocols and strict rules die down a little bit, and it isn’t so difficult to shoot a film.