Soderbergh was all at sea for film
Director made Let Them All Talk aboard the Queen Mary 2
STEVENSODERBERGHCALLS it “the boat movie” even though he’s not supposed to call it “the boat movie.” The Queen Mary 2, on which Soderbergh filmed the majority of hisnew film Letthemall Talk, is technically a ship, and a big one at that. The thought of making amovie on the $750-million ocean liner, during an eight-day Transatlantic crossing fromnewyork to South Hampton, UK, tickled Soderbergh, a filmmakerwho hunts quicker, less plodding methods of making movies the way someseek other shores.
If there were any doubt, Soderbergh is not a cruise guy. But despite— ormaybe because of— his proficiency as a filmmaker, he likes to put himself at sea, withnew problems to navigate. Heshot muchof Letthemall Talk while rolling around the decks in awheelchair, with a camera in his lap.
The film, written by the acclaimed shortstory writer Deborah Eisenberg (at 75, her first screenplay), stars Meryl Streep as an author traveling to receive an award, whobrings along two friends (Dianne Wiest, Candice Bergen) and her nephew (Lucas Hedges). As a travel settingnow associated with outbreaks from the beginning of the pandemic, Soderbergh calls his film, ONHBO Max, “from the before times.”
That’s something Soderbergh, as the maker of Contagion, knows about, too. In an interview by phone, he spoke about that prophetic 2011 film, leading Hollywood’s return to production and the future of the movie industry post-pandemic. Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Wereyoumorementally prepared for thepandemic becauseyouhadthought it throughoncontagion?
Soderbergh: Certainly everybody that I talked to that worked with us on Contagion said very, very early this is very serious, this thing is— to use a technical term— gnarly.
Get ready to hunkerdown is what I was hearing in early January. None of it was a surprise. But there are aspects of howthis has played out that (screenwriter) Scott Burns and I could have never anticipated.
What’s mostsurprising toyou? Soderbergh: Weare clearly, history tells us, a deeply irrational species. We’ve never had as stark an example of that as Covid.
Waspart of the appeal of Letthemall Talk giving yourself a rigid timeframe? Youneed to finish before docking. Soderbergh: Yeah, I like the fact that this is happening whetherwewant it to or not. They’re moving at a certain pace and it takes a certain amount of time, andwehave a certain amount of time to execute. The first few days were rough. Wewere behind. We finally caught our rhythm day three or four. But sincewewere going from theus to the UK, wewere losing an hour a day. It was kind of the production nightmare scenario. Every day got shorter.
For you, whatdid the setting give the film?
Soderbergh: I looked around and everywhere I looked I was like: This is a $750mfilm set. Everywhere you pointed the camera, it screamed scale.
While delivering the final elements to Warner, I satdown to watch it one last time. And I was just looking at it going: I still can’t believe wethought you should do that, that you should go shoot amovie on a crossing. I was shakingmyhead. Whowould think: Yeah, we should do that. But that’s whatmade it so fun.
Youled the Directors Guild taskforce for on-set Covid-19 protocols, andyou just returned fromshootingnosudden Movein Detroit. Howdid it go? Soderbergh: It didn’t slowmedown. We were able to get out of there safely. The bottom line— I don’t care what anybody says — if you’re shooting on a film set, there’s no version of that that includes physical distancing. It’s impossible. It’s an anthill. So what that means is: For the people that in are in that anthill, you gotta test them three times aweek and you need the results within 24 hours. If you can do that, you can choke off an outbreak before it’s gotten anywhere. Wecreated a bubble of sorts. Wetook over a hotel and the densest part of the anthill stayed there. It’s a production within the production.
It’s latelyseemedlike the film industry is changing before our eyes. Soderbergh: Yeah, it is. And it needs to. This is catastrophic what’s happening to the exhibitors right now. The only thing to look forward to is that when this starts to return tosome semblance of normal there’s amore fluid approach to windowing and day-anddate. That’s what I hope.
Whatdoyouthink Hollywoodlooks like in two, three yearsfromnow? Is it radically different?
Soderbergh: At the end of the day, what’s most important and irreducible is: You need talented people making stuff that’s good. That’s the business. You can talk about economic forces and trajectories trends and all that, but the constant is you need talented people making good stuff. I’m more focused on a version of the business in which the identification of talent and the support and the freedom that talent is given is primary.
This is the first oftwofilms you’re makingfor Warnermedia’shbomax. Whatdoyouthink about their 2021 streaming plans?
Soderbergh: Somebody at Warner looked very dispassionately at what’s happening and refused to makerosy assumptions about what a vaccine means and the effect it will have on moviegoing in 2021. What people need to understand is the economics of largescale theatrical exhibition from the studio side are such that if it’s not at 100 per cent potential capacity, it’s really not worth doing. It’s a risky business at best. If it were even 20 per cent off, that creates panic. You can’t risk a $200m asset on that assumption. You have to know. Doyouthink the kinds of moviesthat getmadewill changeif the industry permanently shifts toward streaming? Soderbergh: Blockbusters are not going away. Anybodywho thinks the studios have somehowlost faith in people going to the movies, no. Whenyou make amovie that blows up at the box office, that’s just too lucrative to ever abandon. They would love to have movies in theatres now. They’re just trying to figure out what to do with these assets that are sitting on the shelf, getting stale. There’s a zeitgeist aspect to any movie that makes $1 billion, and it’s got an expiration date.