Every January, Steven Soderbergh shames all film fans by releasing his “Seen, Read” list for the previous year. Basically, the filmmaker dutifully keeps track of every piece of media he consumes in a calendar year, from films to TV series to novels to short films. Everything is sorted by date and listed for our reading pleasure. It’s always a fascinating peek into the mind of one of the most interesting filmmakers working today, trying to figure out why he watched something one day or why he keeps rewatching another thing. 2022 was no different than previous years, as he consumed so, so many films and TV series.
But what’s different this year is that he has a seemingly, new, unannounced, possibly secret project on his list called “The Pendulum Project.” Never announced and listed as TV, it’s listed under “Beg[a]n principal photography on THE PENDULUM PROJECT.”
The series would be the third film or TV project that Soderbergh shot in 2022, alongside “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” (filming began in March, and he watched the first cut in May) and his HBO Max series “Full Circle” which is due sometime later in 2023.
For Soderbergh fans, the “Seen, Read” list is always a great resource to see what he’s working on in a given year. Still, the revelation of a third, still-currently unknown project is undoubtedly an eye-opener (it may be something announced or mentioned under a different title, but as of now, that’s unclear). Details soon, hopefully?
Other than his own work, it’s always nice to see Soderbergh continue his love of reality TV, including his true passion, “Below Deck.” In addition, he also watched some “Cheer” and “Britain’s Most Expensive Houses.” As for films, one of his most-watched features of 2022 was William Friedkin’s 1970s classic “Sorcerer.” Why? Well, it does rule, that’s for sure, and he’s always looking for inspiration.
Another interesting little tidbit is what the filmmaker watched in August. Apparently, he was able to watch David Fincher’s newest film, “The Killer.” He watched the film a total of four times over the course of about a week. We know Soderbergh loves Fincher movies, so watching it four times in a week has to be a good indicator of how great “The Killer” is.
As always, it’s definitely worth scanning the “Seen, Read” list for 2022. And let’s all get excited for a lot of Soderbergh goodness in 2023.