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Posts Tagged ‘The Knick’

The Michael Jordan of American Filmmaking is Back

Posted in Chapter 5, Directors, tagged , , , , , on August 11, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Soderbergh on set of “Logan Lucky”

“Really?  Can’t be.  Say it ain’t so, Steven.”  That was what many of us said when Mr. Soderbergh declared that he was retiring from directing movies.  And for those who had followed, studied, or were inspired by his unique career and creative output, it seemed that this might certainly turn out to be a bit of a joke from a world-class jokester.  Well, that indeed appears to be the case, and of course, he never really retired by any stretch of the term (such as with Behind the Candelabra, The Knick, and more).  Here is an excellent article on Soderbergh right now one week before the release of his promising new movie, Logan Lucky (written by the decidedly mysterious Rebecca Blunt — is this another Soderbergh joke?).

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The Stevens on the State of the Game

Posted in Chapter 5, Directors, tagged , , , , , on October 17, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Soderbergh shooting handheld from a dolly

Soderbergh shooting handheld from a dolly

In an earlier post — Soderbergh Raids the Ark — I shared Steven Soderbergh’s very revealing experiment in which he turned Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark into a black & white silent movie.  Right now I would like to highlight two recently published articles about these two very different and undoubtedly masterful directors.  In Steven Spielberg on the Cold War and Other Hollywood Front Lines, Spielberg discusses his new historically based movie, Bridge of Spies, and many other topics with Cara Buckley of the New York Times.  In The Binge Director (in New York magazine), Matt Zoller Seitz visits with Soderbergh on the set of his show The Knick.  There are many interesting points for young filmmakers and media literacy educators in both of these superb articles.

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Interview with Composer Cliff Martinez

Posted in Chapter 3, Music & Sound Design, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 14, 2011| 3 Comments »

Cliff Martinez playing the Baschet crystal

It was very exciting news to hear that Cliff Martinez would be collaborating again with Steven Soderbergh for the score of Contagion.  Martinez is having a very busy season with the additional release of Nicholas Winding Refn‘s Drive.  Here is one recent interview with Martinez, whose biography and approach are quite unique; two of his finest scores are both for Soderbergh films: the haunting score for Solaris and the Oscar winning Traffic.  

I have to add that one of my dream projects for a film restoration would be for Steven Soderbergh to recut and remaster his film King of the Hill.  This movie from 1993 features superb performances by Jesse Bradford and the rest of the cast, striking cinematography by Elliot Davis (whose trio of films with Soderbergh are all visually stunning, the other two being The Underneath and Out of Sight), and pitch-perfect direction by Soderbergh; it is a sorely under-appreciated movie.  Along with the recut, Cliff Martinez can rerecord some of this score with acoustic ensembles — like the woodwind parts, which are particularly rich — and the resulting version of King of the Hill could be a true revelation.  Ah, dreams…

Update 2014: Here is another interview with Cliff Martinez.  And King of the Hill did get released on Criterion after all, along with The Underneath!  

Update 2015: Thankfully, the Martinez-Soderbergh collaboration has continued with the HBO TV series The Knick, starring Clive Owen.  Here is an excellent June 2015 interview with Cliff Martinez in which he discusses his ongoing collaborations with Soderbergh and Refn as well as the challenges facing contemporary composers— summed up in a particularly amusing description of submitting scores to advertising clients.

Update 2016: On his website, you can access a Cliff Martinez Composing Masterclass with BAFTA.  Listen to it through Soundcloud!

Update 2019: Really neat video with Cliff Martinez in Rotterdam!

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