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5[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/soderbergh.png]]
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7->''"It would be bad enough if Soderbergh merely wrote, directed, and/or produced a nonstop barrage of provocative, eclectic films and television shows. But that isn’t enough for our greedy little friend. No, [[CopiouslyCreditedCreator he has to shoot his own films and edit them under]] [[PenName pseudonyms]]. Quite frankly, I find it a little sickening that one bald, bespectacled little man is able to do so many things so brilliantly. It isn’t fair. Soderbergh is throwing off the curve. Maybe the reason Hollywood is filled with so many mouth-breathing troglodytes is because he’s hogged all the talent. Either he’s one of the most remarkable talents in American film, or there’s a very busy genie out there granting all his wishes. Alternately, he’s cloned himself Film/{{Multiplicity}} style, and has six or seven exact copies helping him get shit done."''
8-->-- '''Creator/NathanRabin''', ''My Year of Flops'' #141, ''Film/{{Solaris 2002}}''
9
10Steven Andrew Soderbergh (born January 14, 1963) is an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward-winning film director and producer from UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}}, [[UsefulNotes/GeorgiaUSA Georgia]]. He also acts as a writer, cinematographer, and editor on most of his pictures, almost always under a pseudonym.
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12He is best known for being extremely prolific compared to his peers, going back and forth from making low-budget indie films to big-budget crowd pleasers, as well as making his movies very quickly and under budget. He's also a major proponent of digital filmmaking.
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14He [[ProductionPosse frequently works]] with Creator/GeorgeClooney, Creator/MattDamon, and Creator/JuliaRoberts.
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16He claimed in 2013 that his cinematic career was at an end and planned on retiring from filmmaking in the near future, with his apparent swan song being his long-in-gestation {{Biopic}} of Liberace, ''Film/BehindTheCandelabra''. However, he stayed involved with theater and television, the first of which being ''Series/TheKnick'', later acted as cinematographer and editor on ''Film/MagicMikeXXL'', and fully moved back into feature film beginning with 2017's ''Film/LoganLucky'', directing at least one film a year since.
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18Soderbergh currently also operates the film company Fingerprint Releasing, whose films are distributed through Creator/BleeckerStreet. He was previously married to Creator/BetsyBrantley.
19
20----
21!!Films directed by him include:
22[[index]]
23* ''Film/SexLiesAndVideotape'' (1989)
24* ''Film/{{Kafka}}'' (1991)
25* ''King Of The Hill'' (1993)
26* ''The Underneath'' (1995)
27* ''Film/{{Schizopolis}}'' (1996)
28* ''Film/OutOfSight'' (1998)
29* ''Film/TheLimey'' (1999)
30* ''Film/ErinBrockovich'' (2000) - for which Creator/JuliaRoberts won an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward.
31* ''Film/{{Traffic|2000}}'' (2000) - for which he won an Oscar against ''himself'' for ''Film/ErinBrockovich''.
32* ''Film/OceansEleven'' (2001)
33* ''Full Frontal'' (2002)
34* ''Film/{{Solaris|2002}}'' (2002)
35* ''Film/OceansTwelve'' (2004)
36* ''Film/{{Bubble}}'' (2005)
37* ''Film/OceansThirteen'' (2007)
38* ''Film/{{Che}}'' (2008) - a two-part film
39* ''The Girlfriend Experience'' (2009)
40* ''Film/{{The Informant|2009}}'' (2009)
41* ''Film/{{Contagion|2011}}'' (2011)
42* ''Film/{{Haywire}}'' (2011)
43* ''Film/MagicMike'' (2012)
44* ''Film/SideEffects'' (2013)
45* ''Film/BehindTheCandelabra'' (2013)
46* ''Series/TheKnick'' (2014) - his first television series
47* ''Film/LoganLucky'' (2017)
48* ''Film/{{Unsane}}'' (2018)
49* ''High Flying Bird'' (2019)
50* ''Film/TheLaundromat'' (2019)
51* ''Let Them All Talk'' (2020)
52* ''Film/NoSuddenMove'' (2021)
53* ''Film/{{Kimi}}'' (2022)
54* ''Film/MagicMikesLastDance'' (2023)
55[[/index]]
56
57----
58!!Tropes applying to his work:
59
60* AnachronicOrder: Many of his films jump around in time or have a lot of flashbacks.
61* AuteurLicense: He got one after ''videotape'', and seemed to be on the verge of losing it until he made ''Film/OutOfSight''. He was pretty much granted one for life after the Oceans Trilogy.
62%%* BreakthroughHit: ''Film/SexLiesAndVideotape''. He also cites ''Film/OutOfSight'' as a second breakthrough which made him viable as a Hollywood film-maker.
63* {{Biopic}}: An unusual one of Creator/FranzKafka's, followed by a conventional one in the form of ''Erin Brockovich'', followed in turn by unusual films like ''The Informant!'', ''Che'' and ''Behind the Candelabra''.
64* BunnyEarsLawyer: He's an extremely prolific, accomplished director, but one visit to [[http://extension765.com/ his website]] reveals him to be an ''odd'' fellow.
65%%* CareerResurrection: ''Film/OutOfSight''. He also sees ''Film/TheKnick'' as another one.
66* ColorWash:
67** One of the projects on his website is making a black-and-white version of ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' with music by [[Music/NineInchNails Trent]] [[Film/TheSocialNetwork Reznor]].
68** Many scenes in ''Film/SideEffects'' are tinted warm yellow, especially in the first half of the film.
69** ''Film/Contagion2011'' varies from scene to scene, with green, yellow and blue being popular choices.
70** ''Film/Traffic2000'' has different filters for different locales. In particular, Mexico was always awash in orange-yellow. The US has a blue filter.
71** All the outdoor scenes in ''Film/MagicMike'' are tinted orange, emphasizing the Florida setting and more sharply contrasting the nightclub and strip club scenes, which are dark and neon-soaked.
72* {{Determinator}}: His movies tackle the mentality of people who are determined and committed to a task and intend to follow it through, whether it's Karen Sisco, Daniel Ocean, John Thackery or UsefulNotes/CheGuevara himself. He notes that such individuals like to believe that they are in control, that their will can impose order on the world, and he likes to explore what they do when things don't go according to plan, if they can adapt, improvise or change. He notes that this is a good metaphor for film-making in general, since a movie director or anyone who wants to work creatively in the business, needs to have that same grit and spirit.
73* DevelopmentHell: He first approached Creator/MichaelDouglas to play Music/{{Liberace}} when they were working together on ''Film/Traffic2000''. It took 13 years before [[Film/BehindTheCandelabra the film]] was finally made.
74* ExactWords: He said that he would retire from ''filmmaking''. That didn't stop him from directing a play, [[Series/TheKnick a show]] and acting as the DP for and editing ''Magic Mike XXL'' before finally returning to film.
75* FanEdit: In his spare time he'll occasionally play around with other films and make his own edits, such as ''Psychos'', his edit of Film/{{Psycho}} that combines the original with the 1998 remake; and an edit of Film/HeavensGate that transforms its 3 and a half hour running time into just a little under two hours.
76* GenreRoulette: Soderbergh enjoys making movies in diverse genres -- comedy, drama, science-fiction, action, heist, thriller, biopic, period drama -- and his movies feature a lot of shifts in style and tone, experimenting with any mode that will help the story.
77* GreyAndGrayMorality: While it can sometimes go towards BlackAndGreyMorality, this is usually where it lands.
78* HeAlsoDid:
79** Was Assistant Director on ''Film/TheHungerGames''.
80** His first project after graduating from film school was a Music/{{Yes}} concert film.
81* MindScrew: ''Schizopolis''. Non-stop.
82* NonActorVehicle: ''Bubble'' features an entire cast of non-professional actors recruited from the local town. ''The Girlfriend Experience'' stars pornstar Sasha Grey, who went on to do more mainstream acting afterwards. ''Haywire'' stars UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts fighter Creator/GinaCarano, who also followed up with more roles.
83* OnceMoreWithClarity: Inevitably shows up in his heist films, to fully explain how the robbers perfectly pull it off.
84* PenName: When he's a Cinematographer or Editor, he's credited under, respectively, [[MeaningfulName "Peter Andrews" and "Mary Ann Bernard".]] One wonders if ''Logan Lucky'''s mysterious scriptwriter, "Rebecca Blunt", is yet another instance of this.
85* PopStarComposer: Has worked with Cliff Martinez and David Holmes.
86* ProductionPosse: Collaborates with writer Scott Z. Burns, Creator/MattDamon, Creator/GeorgeClooney, Creator/EddieJemison, Creator/JuliaRoberts, Creator/DonCheadle, and Creator/ChanningTatum. And when he's not editing his own movies, Stephen Mirrione is his editor.
87* RenaissanceMan: Is a Director, Writer, Producer, Cinematographer, Editor, Composer and Painter.
88* SignatureStyle: Soderbergh often takes familiar plots for stories and mixes in unique stylistic choices, usually through clever editing.
89* TenMinuteRetirement: A total of four years passed between his "retirement from filmmaking" in 2013 and the release of ''Film/LoganLucky'' in 2017. Although, as detailed above, in the meantime he shot and edited one movie and directed two seasons of TV.
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