Few are the opportunities when we can see two films of the same director in dark rooms. This is without counting the work bulimia of the decidedly elusive Steven Soderbergh, 62, who draws Presence (on February 5), narrative of terror entirely turned from the point of view of a ghost, and The Insider (Wednesday March 12), spying thriller in which a secret agent must flush out a mole in his service. All his career, the director has not stopped surprising his audience, not holding in place and alternating commercial and experimental proposals.
The Tangwall Campagin. How did the idea of The Insider ?
Steven Soderbergh. When I collaborated with the screenwriter David Koepp on Presencehe taught me that he had another story in reserve, which he had been working on for a while. He baited me, so that once his script was finished, I immediately offered to stage him. He warned me that there would be two long scenes taking place at the table. The nightmare for any director!
I still read it, and loved it. I could not change the way he had structured the intrigue, so I had to scaffold a strategy to shoot these sequences of dinners where no one got up, not once: the guests were sitting, without moving, to converse. While often a pretext to go to the kitchen to move and add a little movement. In a project, there is always an aspect that paralyzes and that we overcome. In this case, it made me anxious.
But do you welcome technical challenges?
Absolutely, when they are critical for history. This required me to pyre like a student, to prepare for myself, to consider the way the scene could evolve visually at the same time as the different emotions deployed there. I took one afternoon to think about it with the Viewfinder application for the cinema, which we download on the phone: I find it great because we choose all the details of the shots in advance, such as the format or the lens.
“I wanted an entertaining Saturday evening thriller”
I have developed several somewhat crazy compositions that were not suitable, because the film has grammar and a series of rules to respect. I built a table from which I could take off the center to place my camera there. I cut everything plan by plan. It had to be energetic cinema, not a static play. We must always arouse attention, stimulate, surprise and distract. But that is part of the pleasure.
Did you want to pay tribute to Agatha Christie?
Yes, there is a list of suspects and one wonders who is the culprit! I love it when, at the end of the novels, Hercule Poirot reveals the resolution of the enigma by taking its time. I hope to bring the same feeling of satisfaction when the mystery is finally clarified. I am an admirer of the genre. I remember discovering kid The crime of the Orient-Express (1974) by Sidney Lumet, one of my favorite films. He had to deploy treasures of ingenuity to turn in the enclosed space of a train, especially at the time of the outcome where the famous investigator speaks for fifteen minutes without being bored for a second.
I saw her again for The Insideras well as spying stories such as The three days of the Condor (1975) by Sydney Pollack, and all the adventures of Harry Palmer, the fictional character created by Len Deighton, whom Michael Caine embodied many times in the cinema. I also dive his pair of glasses and his sweater to assert my actor, Michael Fassbender. It was for him a perilous role, because in suggestion, not in demonstration: he had to keep emotions inside and erase any facial expression. However, a look is enough and we are terrified. Michael is not afraid of this sobriety, he does not feel insecure.
You have been playing with the public since Ocean’s Eleven (2001)…
You know, we can tell the same story in a much darker way. From the start, I wanted to direct Hollywood stars, to add glamor, but without them taking themselves seriously. We must also consider what others do in espionage. There are so many series on television, always in the first degree. I then tell the spectators that I do not sit in the same register. I wanted an entertaining Saturday evening thriller.
How do you constantly renew yourself in terms of staging?
Presence And The Insider were opposed to 180 degrees, stimulating gymnastics. For the first, I used the sequence plan, so it is impossible to take advantage of the advantages of one of the most powerful tools in cinema: editing. It stressed me because I like to use it! For the second, I proceeded on the contrary by dissecting the sequences in very small pieces to build the puzzle. I flourished in both cases.
Do you like experimentation?
Yes, I am above all looking for opportunities to undertake something different. Everything has already been done, so you always have to reinvent. I cogitize on ideas for commercial and quality adult films. The Insider is typically the kind of project that Hollywood considers today as too risky because it is an average budget (60 million dollars, editor’s note).
“I could direct a suite to Contagion every four years “
Everyone there insists you that there is no more audiences for this. It’s terrible. Universal has the courage to venture into this dead area, so I really hope that the film will work. Not for me, but for those who will arrive after me. I built my career on it: Out of reach (1998), Erin Brockovich (2000) or Traffic (2000) were in the same category, and at the time, they represented a certain financial security for a studio…
Have you manipulated the camera yourself to Presence ?
Absolutely. The main difficulty was not to fall on the stairs! A daily risk because they were difficult and dizzying. (Laughter.) I had to look at my feet so as not to break my face. Before, I had to find the position of the camera, memorize it and try to keep it even if I looked up. I have often started again because I kept moving, I cut my actors’ heads. I had no plan B. I made a concession, however: in the scenario, the ghost had the capacity to cross the walls and the ceiling. I thought it was a mistake. As he could not leave the house, he would suffer from the same constraints as his living occupants.
This is an autobiographical story?
Yes. Someone who stayed in our Los Angeles villa to keep our cats saw a silhouette in the corridor, walking from the bedroom to the bathroom. We discovered that, in the 1980s, a woman had died in this specific location. Police said it was suicide, but our neighbors say that the girl actually killed her mother. When I heard this story, I wondered: “If she was there with us, would our company inconvenience her?” »» Because we are still at home! From there was born the concept of Presence. I kept the house and I never saw anything. But perhaps my cats, if: they are animals very sensitive to energies, their perception is different from ours. One of the two very often goes to a room with a fairly disturbing regularity, always at the same time of the day, for unknown reasons. I imagine that he must receive instructions. (Laughs.)
Did you want to approach the subject of mourning?
Above all, explore a territory that I associate with my mother. She was parapsychologist. I grew up watching her exercise her activity. She received people at home, read the future, drew tarot cards, made astrological themes. When you are young, it all seems very weird. But it was bright, there was nothing scary in there.
Have you inherited his gift of clairvoyance for predicting the covid in Contagion (2011)?
(Laughs.) I was called a visionary, but I just listened to the doctors and the scientists who worked in this area and who announced exactly how it was going to take place. They knew in advance that it would be on a market of live animals in Asia. I think creative people like me have their antennas permanently erected in relation to what is happening in the world. We perceive subtle vibrations, so I try not to isolate myself and I trust my intuition. Contagion Was a lot seen during confinement, it is not entirely devoid of meaning. It was said that if it happened one day, we would find a solution. The specialists assured me that they would be capable of it.
New technologies have been developed between the moment when the film was released and the one when the covid appeared. This allowed us to have a remedy much faster than ten years ago. The disease emerged in November 2019 and they made vaccines ready to be tested in January 2020. What incredible progress! The reason they won the Nobel Prize and saved lives. I give you the other hypothesis for the future: the melting of permafrost would expose us to a virus or a bacteria having disappeared from the surface of the planet for tens of thousands of years, and our body would be completely helpless. An even worse scenario! We constantly discover new pathologies. I could direct a suite to Contagion every four years at this diet.
Do you have a new series in preparation?
No. I have completed four in ten years (including The Knickavailable on MyCanal). Television monopolized me. Afterwards, some stories benefit from being exploited on the length. I liked it, but it must be justified. I’m back in the movies: I finish the shots of The Christophers In London, a comedy in the art world with Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel, from the series I may destroy you. I run quickly: eleven days for Presencethirty-five for The Insidereighteen for The Christophers. As I am very precise, I demand that my actors are well prepared. The release is planned in the fall, so it will make me three films for 2025! (Laughs.)
