Thinking of "Filmmaking Tips and Thoughts on the Industry from Do-It-All Director Steven Soderbergh"

• Avoid Getting Branded
• Get Out of the Way of Actors
• Exhaust Your Interests and Move On
• Don’t Fake It
• Don’t Give a Fuck What Critics Think
• Characters Don’t Have to Be Sympathetic, But They Do Have to Be Interesting

One of the great things about being a filmmaker is being able to explore the lives of other people or look at a subject you might know nothing about, and that’s why number 3 is a great one for people just starting out:

In an interview last year with Film Comment, Soderbergh stated the following about what draws him to such a variety of projects: “Filmmaking is the best way in the world to learn about something. When I come out the other side after making a film about a particular subject, I have exhausted my interest in it. After Contagion, I’m still going to be washing my hands, but I don’t ever—I’m not going to pick up another book or article about Che as long as I live.”

Soderbergh is a versatile filmmaker specifically because he sees the filmmaking process as a path to discovery. This is probably why Soderbergh doesn’t have a clear thematic thread connecting his films: while the director certainly imbues his work with a perspective, he sees filmmaking as a learning process rather than a given outcome. Thus, Soderbergh’s films are free from “statements.” Even his portrayal of a figure as politically divisive as Che Guevara is more ambivalent than didactic. Still, this statement doesn’t explain how he ended up making three Ocean’s films.