Steven Soderbergh having a flotilla of projects on the go is nothing new. In the last year and a half he shot, “Che,” the upcoming black comedy “Informant” with Matt Damon and “The Girlfriend Experience” with real-life porn star Sasha Grey, back to back to back.
However, the one most people want to see (well at least we do) is the most audacious-sounding one, “Cleo,” which is supposed to be a a 3D live action musical version of the “Cleopatra” story featuring the music of booze-soddled indie rockers Guided By Voices and starring Catherine Zeta Jones (Jim Greer, the bassist of GBV and one-time SPIN writer penned the script; Soderbergh once used a GBV song in “Full Frontal” and frontman Robert Pollard wrote some of the score to “Bubble”).
However, we may have to wait longer than expected. After ‘GfE,’ “Cleo” was to be his next picture, but Hugh Jackman — who we all know is a good song and dance man from this year’s Oscars — who was supposed to co-star, had to drop-out because of scheduling issues. Though financing was set, because of Jackman’s absence, Soderbergh quickly switched gears and instead took on the baseball film, “Moneyball” with Brad Pitt and Demetri Martin and the last we heard, “Cleo” was pushed to 2010, presumably he hoped the Australian actor’s schedule would open up by then.
But according to a recent interview with Salon, “Cleo” is at least two projects away. “We’re going to [shoot] ‘Moneyball’ this summer, which I’m really excited about,” Soderbergh said. ” ‘Liberace’ [the biopic starring Michael Douglas] is gonna follow that. So I feel like I’m in one of those periods where I’m seeing the ball well, and so I’m amped.”
He also talked about the “Liberace” project a bit more to Screencrave and how it would differ from fast-and-loose works like, “The Girlfriend Experience.”
“We’re trying to get this ‘Liberace’ movie off the ground, and we’ve got Michael Douglas playing Liberace and Matt Damon playing this young man that he gets involved with. And, Richard LaGravenese [“The Fisher King,” “The Ref”] wrote the script. That’s not a situation where I’m going to be sitting around improvising. It’s already there. But, the goal of that movie is very different because of what it’s about and the period that it’s set in. It’s set in the entertainment business and it needs to have a different vibe. And so, a more obvious construct is fine, in that world, but in the world of ‘Bubble’ or ‘GFE,’ I felt like it has to feel more organic.”
However, there is still hope for “Cleo” to be shot in 2010. In a separate interview with SLT Today, the intensely-prolific director says he hopes to shoot both “Liberace” and the musical next year. “The Cleopatra project will shoot next year, and so will the movie about Liberace,” he said and since Soderbergh is his own cinematographer (under the pseudonym Peter Andrews) he works lighting fast and has already proven that shooting 2-3 movies a year is not impossible.
Finally, Soderbergh also reminds us that he has a documentary about deceased playwright/monologist Spalding Gray basically in the can that just needs to be edited. “I’ve got a movie about Spalding Gray that I hope we’ll finish editing by the fall,” he tells SLT.
Jesus, do not stand in this filmmakers way.