As you probably already know by now, Steven Soderbergh gets more done in a day that most do in a week. Even in his "retirement," he’s knocking out one of the best shows on television at a mind-boggling pace ("The Knick"), and this past fall, he spent his time producing, editing, and lensing "Magic Mike XXL." Those two jobs alone would be more than enough to fill the days of anybody, but Soderbergh also spent 2014 watching a lot of movies and TV shows, and squeezing in some reading too. And over on his website Extension 765, he’s revealed everything he consumed in 2014.
It’s a lot to wade through, but here’s some interesting highlights that jumped out at us: he watched Stanley Kubrick‘s "2001: A Space Odyssey" twice three times, and read Piers Bizony‘s making-of book; it doesn’t look like he finished "True Detective" or "Transparent"; last month he watched a cut of "Magic Mike XXL"; he watched "Jaws" twice in the span of a couple weeks; on the same day he watched "Ida," he took in "Peter Pan Live!" (that’s quite the double bill); and he also found time for "Die Hard With A Vengeance," and we’d love to ask him about that one.
Check out the full list below, which includes his music purchases on vinyl. And to check out what Soderbergh watched and read in 2013, click here.
Seen Read 2014
All caps, bold: MOVIE
All caps: TV SERIES
All italics: Book
Quotation marks: "Play"
Italics, Quotation marks: "Short Story"
01/01 TRUE DETECTIVE (2), MRS. FISHER’S MURDER MYSTERY
01/04 Want Not, Jonathan Miles,
01/05 “The Library”
01/11 HOUSE OF CARDS (5)
01/08 AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: THE POISONER’S HANDBOOK
01/12 GIRLS
01/13 THE GREAT BEAUTY
01/16 30FOR30: THE PRICE OF GOLD
01/18 HOUSE OF CARDS (5)
01/19 HOUSE OF CARDS (2), GIRLS
01/21 DAYS AND NIGHTS
01/23 HOUSE OF CARDS
01/26 Cat Sense, John Bradshaw
01/27 THE KNICK (3)
01/28 THE KNICK (3)
01/29 THE KNICK (4)
01/30 Roth Unbound, Claudia Pierpoint Roth
01/31 GIRLS
02/01 Mad as Hell, Dave Itzkoff
02/02 The Ask, Sam Lipsyte
02/04 THE MONUMENTS MEN
02/08 THE COUNSELOR
02/10 GIRLS
02/14 ICE CASTLES
02/15 NIGHT MOVES (’75)
02/17 THE AFTER, ARLINGTON ROAD
02/18 TRUE DETECTIVE (3)
02/21 BAD GRANDPA
02/22 ROBBERY (’67), THE SPLIT, FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT
02/26 KID AUTO RACES IN VENICE, THE ROUNDERS
03/01 THE AMERICANS
03/02 My Autobiography, Charlie Chaplin, GIRLS
03/03 MADNESS IN THE WHITE CITY
03/05 SILICON VALLEY, THE AMERICANS
03/07 Broken Bells at Webster Hall
03/09 GIRLS
03/12 THE AMERICANS
03/13 TWA 800
03/14 SILICON VALLEY (2), NON-STOP
03/18 JUGGERNAUT
03/19 THE AMERICANS
03/21 DOLL & EM
03/22 TAKE AWAY ONE
03/23 GONE GIRL
03/25 “The Library”
03/26 “The Library”, THE AMERICANS, DOLL & EM
03/27 “The Library”
03/29 “The Library”, GONE GIRL
03/30 NOKAS, “The Library” (2)
03/31 AMERICAN GREED
04/01 “The Library”, INSIDE AMY SCHUMER
04/02 “The Library”, THE AMERICANS
04/03 “The Library”
04/04 HOKE
04/05 “The Library” (2), KLUTE
04/06 “The Library” (2), VEEP, DOLL & EM (2)
04/08 “The Library”, INSIDE AMY SCHUMER, DOLL & EM
04/10 THE AMERICANS, DOLL & EM
04/13 MAD MEN
04/14 VEEP
04/15 Opening night of “The Library”
04/16 INSIDE AMY SCHUMER, THE UNKNOWN KNOWN, THE AMERICANS, MY MAN GODFREY
04/18 IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD
04/19 PROXY
04/20 UNDER THE SKIN, MAD MEN, VEEP
04/22 INSIDE AMY SCHUMER
04/23 Free for All, Kenneth Turan and Joseph Papp, THE AMERICANS, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
04/25 DIE HARD WITH VENGEANCE
04/27 VEEP, MAD MEN
04/28 Tenth of December, George Saunders
04/28 ROBBER, INSIDE AMY SCHUMER
04/29 HIGH RISK
05/01 RUNAWAY JURY
05/02 PIONER
05/03 THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY (’42), BROOKLYN BOMBSHELLS VS. MANHATTAN MAYHEM
05/04 WALK OF SHAME, MAD MEN, VEEP
05/05 LOUIE (2)
05/07 Five Came Back, Mark Harris, MR. KNEFF
05/10 SILICON VALLEY (3), INSIDE AMY SCHUMER, THE AMERICANS
05/11 MAD MEN, VEEP
05/12 LOUIE (2), FINDING VIVIAN MAIER
05/14 THE AMERICANS
05/15 KEY & PEELE (3)
05/16 THE DAY OF THE JACKAL
05/18 A Spy Among Friends, Ben Macintyre
05/20 VEEP, INSIDE AMY SCHUMER, MAD MEN
05/21 SORCERER, THE AMERICANS, LOUIE (2)
05/23 THE THICK OF IT (5)
05/24 THE THICK OF IT (7)
05/25 Think Like a Freak, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, THE THICK OF IT (2), MAD MEN, CATCH-22
05/26 POINT BLANK, THE THICK OF IT (4), LOUIE (2)
05/31 IN THE LOOP
06/01 No Place To Hide, Glenn Greenwald, W1A (4), THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD
06/02 VEEP, THE THICK OF IT, ARVINGERNE
06/03 To Rise Again At A Decent Hour, Joshua Ferris, THE THICK OF IT, LOUIE, THE SLAP
06/04 INSIDE AMY SCHUMER, THE SLAP (3)
06/05 THE SLAP (2), STATE AND MAIN, SE7EN
06/06 ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (2)
06/07 The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt, THE SLAP (2)
06/08 VEEP (2)
06/09 LOUIE (3)
06/14 Summer House with Swimming Pool, Herman Koch, TO CATCH A THIEF
06/15 Killer of Demons, Christopher Yost and Scott Wegener, BLACK SUNDAY, DR. STRANGELOVE: OR, HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB
06/16 LOUIE (2)
06/20 THE ARMSTRONG LIE
06/21 THE CONVERSATION
06/22 It Won’t Always Be This Great, Peter Mehlman
06/23 JAWS
06/26 ARVINGERNE (2)
06/29 My Struggle: Book One, Karl Ove Gnausgaard, THE LEFTOVERS
06/30 OLIVE KITTERIDGE (4)
07/02 My Struggle: Book Two, Karl Ove Gnausgaard, PORTLANDIA (2), THE PARALLAX VIEW
07/03 I SMILE BACK, WHITEY: THE UNITED STATES VS. JAMES J. BULGER
07/04 ARVINGERNE (3)
07/05 ARVINGERNE, CODE BREAKERS, JAWS
07/06 ARVINGERNE (2)
07/07 ARVINGERNE (2)
07/11 ALIEN
07/12 My Struggle: Book Three, Karl Ove Gnausgaard, FILM SOCIALISME
07/13 KIM PHILBY: HIS MOST INTIMATE BETRAYAL (2)
07/15 COME TO PAPA (Largo)
07/16 RED OAKS
07/17 The Last Magazine, Michael Hastings
07/18 AMERICAN GRAFFITI
07/19 THE OFFENSE
07/20 THE SEDUCTION OF MIMI
07/21 ALTERED STATES
07/22 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
07/24 HIS GIRL FRIDAY
07/25 WORLD ON A WIRE
07/26 BOYHOOD, THE PAPER CHASE
07/27 THE RAIN PEOPLE, THE HAUNTING (’63)
07/28 PANIC ROOM
07/29 The Rule of Nobody, Philip K. Howard
07/30 APOCALYPSE NOW
07/31 RED DESERT
08/01 The Rise and Fall of Great Powers, Tom Rachman
08/02 The Great Degeneration, Niall Ferguson, CUBS VS DODGERS
08/09 THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN
08/10 Yours in Haste and Adoration: The Selected Letters of Terry Southern, Nile Southern and Brooke Allen (galley)
08/11 CITIZENFOUR
08/12 PATHS OF GLORY
08/14 SPARTACUS (’60), DINER
08/16 THE ARRANGEMENT, KATT WILLIAMS: PRICELESS: AFTERLIFE
08/17 I Am Pilgrim, Terry Hayes
08/18 KATT WILLIAMS: KATTPOCALYPSE
08/19 CITIZENFOUR, MYSTERY OF THE NAZCA LINES
08/21 THE GODFATHER
08/23 CRIMES OF PASSION, THE KILLING
08/24 THE GODFATHER PART II
08/25 THE PARALLAX VIEW, CARNAL KNOWLEDGE
08/27 NASHVILLE
08/30 The Power of Noticing, Max. H. Bazerman
09/01 MICHAEL CLAYTON
09/06 RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (B&W)
09/07 Proof: The Science of Booze, Adam Rogers, BOARDWALK EMPIRE
09/09 COME TO PAPA (Largo)
09/11 RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (B&W)
09/12 BILL MAHER: LIVE FROM WASHINGTON, DC
09/21 BOARDWALK EMPIRE
09/20 The Staying Guests, Sarah Waters
09/29 Begin principal photography on MAGIC MIKE XXL
10/02 BOARDWALK EMPIRE
10/11 BOARDWALK EMPIRE
11/05 BEWARE MR. BAKER
11/06 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt, BOARDWALK EMPIRE, MAGIC MIKE XXL
11/07 BOARDWALK EMPIRE (2)
11/08 THE GALAPAGOS AFFAIR: WHEN SATAN CAME TO EDEN
11/09 The Zone of Interest, Martin Amis, GETTING ON, THE COMEBACK
11/10 AMERICAN GREED, LIFEBOAT
11/14 MAGIC MIKE XXL
11/16 GETTING ON
11/18 CASABLANCA
11/20 WHIPLASH, CARNAL KNOWLEDGE
11/21 THE LAST DETAIL
11/22 THE GRADUATE
11/23 THE COMEBACK, GETTING ON
11/24 COHERENCE
11/25 HONEYMOON, HITLER’S RICHES
11/26 1864, VICIOUS (2), AMERICAN GREED, TRANSPARENT (3)
11/27 TRANSPARENT (6)
11/28 THE BADADOOK, SUNSET BOULEVARD
11/30 MONA LISA IS MISSING, GETTING ON
12/01 MAGIC MIKE XXL
12/03 NIGHTCRAWLER
12/04 IDA, PETER PAN LIVE!
12/06 AMERICAN SNIPER
12/07 BLACK MIRROR (2), GETTING ON
12/08 BLACK MIRROR, FURY
12/09 A MOST VIOLENT YEAR
12/10 FOXCATCHER
12/13 BLACK MIRROR (3), KEY AND PEELE
12/14 GETTING ON
12/15 MAGIC MIKE XXL
12/16 BLACK MIRROR: WHITE CHRISTMAS
12/17 UNBROKEN
12/18 INHERENT VICE
12/20 AMERICAN GREED (4)
12/23 SELMA, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
12/24 The Making of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Piers Bizony, THE INTERVIEW, THE IPCRESS FILE
12/25 Stuff Matters, Mark Miodownik, VICIOUS, FUNERAL IN BERLIN, UTOPIA (2)
12/26 TOP FIVE, THE LAVENDER HILL MOB
12/27 A Little Lumpen Novelita, Roberto Bolano, The Strange Library, Haruki Murakami
12/28 MAGIC MIKE XXL
12/30 THE RETURN OF W. DE RIJK
12/31 The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, Hilary Mantel, GASLIGHT (’40)
VINYL
CHEMICAL CHORDS Stereolab
THE SPECIALS LIVE The Specials
THE SMITHS Strangeways Here We Come (2)
TRAFFIC John Barleycorn Must Die
THE KNACK Soundtrack John Barry
THE STRANGLERS Aural Sculpture
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE Like Clockwork…
S/T St. Vincent
KIND OF BLUE Miles Davis
THE BEST OF AL GREEN Al Green
A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS Vince Guaraldi Trio
A CHRISTMAS ALBUM Various
A CHRISTMAS OF MIRACLES Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
I\’m guessing he watched both GONE GIRL and CITIZENFOUR twice long before their respective releases for editing advice to the directors.
I love this list but it is actually, "Miss Fisher" not Mrs. Fisher…she\’d hate that!
I\’m impressed that he watched Finding Vivian Maier. No Life Itself though. I wonder why.
his wife-Jules Asner\’s birthday is on valentine\’s day-hence the Ice Castles viewing. Maybe she\’s the GIRLS and AMY SCHUMER fan?
@cirkusfolk Mr. Soderbergh still has time to watch screeners before The Academy votes. I\’m curious how much you get done in a year that you call him lazy?
He should really use letterboxd
Sleep optional huh?
Any info on THE RETURN OF W. DE RIJK?
I hope he\’s not voting for the Oscars because he hasn\’t seen many of the eligible films.
Guess he´ll be having another Magic Mike XXL night this Saturday or Sunday.
Steven Soderbergh doesn\’t watch Game of Thrones.
To the guy who wrote: \’kinda lazy if u ask me.\’. First, why must prospective Academy voters only be expected to watch films that might potentially be nominated? Second, most Academy voters wait until the nominations are official before they see the movie so that the movie is fresh in their mind and they can make a better decision. Third, he may not vote. So let him watch what he wants to.
Soderbergh loves John McTiernan. That\’s why he watched Die Hard With A Vengeance. He\’s mentioned McTiernan alongside Spielberg and Cameron when talking about the best directors of action. He said he studied all three guy\’s films before making the Ocean\’s movies and Haywire.
why would he bother to see a bunch of terrible movies end of year oscar-bait movies?
Steven isn\’t into Game of Thrones at all. And it is rather strange to stop True Detective at ep5
@CIRKUSFOLK
He watched The Social Network a bunch of times before it came out too. I\’m guessing Fincher shows him early cuts of the movie and asks for his input. Pretty cool.
I\’m trying to imagine what kind of mood he was in to watch The Babadook and Sunset Boulevard on the same day.
and he watched CARNAL KNOWLEDGE and THE GRADUATE in the 2 days after Mike Nichols passed away.
funny he only watched 1 eps of True Detective (burn) and obvs he wasn\’t interested in seeing this year\’s men oscar bait..probably waiting for screeners.
I plan on watching MAGIC MIKE XXL, at least that many times in 2015.
In fact, it seems he didn\’t watch a lot of the films that actually came out in theaters this year. No Imitation Game, no Theory of Everything, etc. I hope he doesn\’t get to vote in the Academy Awards. Kinda lazy if u ask me.
He actually watched 2001 three times, yet didn\’t watch Interstellar. Weird. I see he got to see Gone Girl twice in March even though it didn\’t come out til October. Must have some pull.
Nice! The Offence is a really disturbing, hugely underseen film.