Steven Soderbergh talks about his involvement on The Hunger Games
A few of weeks ago we reported that Steven Soderbergh was pulling second unit directorial duties on Gary Ross' The Hunger Games which naturally set the rumour mill into overdrive suggesting he could be talking over or directing the sequel.
Now the man himself has spoken out about what he's doing on the Suzanne Collins adaptation, speaking to Moviefone the prolific director said "The story is really simple. Back in April, Gary, who is a close friend of mine who I've exchanged creative favours with non-stop over the last 15 years - when he got the boards for the shoot in April called me and said, 'Hey, first week of August, I got these two days of second unit. Is there any way you can come down and help me out? Because I'd rather have you do it than hire somebody who I don't know.'
I said, 'Actually, that works out.' We'll just be finishing Contagion and prepping Magic Mike and, yeah, it could be fun.
Cut to two months later, and I show up to do this thing. Of course the whole design of it and what's fun about it, for me, is my job is to come in and duplicate exactly what Gary and Tom Stern, the cinematographer are doing. To mimic as closely as I can to their aesthetic. And that's what I attempted to do."
He added "If I've done my job properly, I hope I did, by design, you won't be able to tell what I did. Because it's supposed to cut seamlessly into what they're doing. That's the whole point. That's why he asked me to come down, because he knew that I would be rigorous about matching what they were doing.
You know, he showed me stuff on either side of the area in which I was going to be shooting stuff and we talked at length. And I thought, 'OK, I see what you guys are doing. I know what the tool kit is. I know what the rules are.'
And it's fun in a way. I found it much more nerve-wracking than when you're shooting for yourself. Because I was constantly thinking, 'Oh, I hope that he likes this. I hope he likes that.'"
While The Hunger Games opens on March 23, Soderbergh's next offering Contagion comes to cinemas on October 21 and features an ensemble cast of Matt Damon, John Hawkes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jennifer Ehle, Laurence Fishburne, Bryan Cranston, Sanaa Lathan and Elliott Gould.
CONTAGION INFECTS CINEMAS ON OCTOBER 21