Leave it to Steven Soderbergh to create a project that leaves both Deadline and Variety sorta confused about how to describe it. The former calls it a film, the latter a television series. We’ve learned that it’s indeed film, and a boundary pushing one from the filmmaker who has set up an intriguing new project at HBO.
"Mosaic" will be a "Clue"-esque, Choose Your Own Adventure style narrative that will give viewers the options, via an app, to determine the fate of the storyline. To that end, Soderbergh will shoot multiple variations of scenes to give the audience options of where to take things next. So yes, welcome to the first high-profile, interactive film, and Soderbergh is pretty pumped about breaking out of the box.
READ MORE: The Show Must Go On In First Trailer For Season 2 Of Steven Soderbergh’s ‘The Knick’
“I believe the good people at HBO are genuinely enthusiastic about ‘Mosaic’ for two reasons: first, it represents a fresh way of experiencing a story and sharing that experience with others; second, it will require a new Emmy category, and we will be the only eligible nominee,” Soderbergh said, hilariously, in a statement.
Garrett Hedlund and Sharon Stone will star in the project, and sources tell us that Ed Solomon ("Men in Black," "Charlie’s Angels") is writing the film. Additionally, Soderbergh has been working on the development of the app technology for five years with the project’s producer Casey Silver ("The Forbidden Kingdom," "Leatherheads").
Shooting will begin next month, and sorry, no plot details just yet. Before that, Soderbergh will finish editing the second season of "The Knick," which hits Cinemax this fall. So lots to look forward to from the director who seems eager to take apart the very foundation of storytelling and play around with it.
9/25/15 Update: looks like someone screwed up with that HBO press release. Soderbergh himself has clarified some details.
To be clear: MOSAIC is not choose-your-own-adventure and there are no alternate endings.
— Bitchuation (@Bitchuation) September 26, 2015
Yeah, so I just googled that to confirm – in 2011 he was saying he was going to retire from filmmaking to become a painter: "Mr. Soderbergh was speaking last month in his office space-cum-painting studio in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, where, having announced his imminent retirement from directing, he will soon be spending a lot more time. Propped against the walls are some of his recent pieces: a pair of striped canvases in red and gray hues and a portrait of the abstract painter Agnes Martin. Mr. Soderbergh, 48, sounded matter-of-fact about the career change. “I’m interested in exploring another art form while I have the time and ability to do so,” he said. “I’ll be the first person to say if I can’t be any good at it and run out of money I’ll be back making another ‘Ocean’s’ movie.”" Then as his supposed \’retirement\’ date loomed, he started backpedalling and saying he was only going to stop making features. Now he\’s making this, which (it seems) is formally a feature, and which HBO will probably end up premiering at a festival anyway, as they did with Behind the Candelabra.
^ No, he didn\’t, he originally flatly said he was retiring from filmmaking altogether, then he gradually backpedalled.
He made it very clear in interviews that he was retiring from features, because the process of getting a feature up and running had become too political and too depressing. Everybody keeps teasing him about his "retirement", but he always said he was just leaving features to try other things.
For someone who si supposed to be retired, Soderbergh\’s work output is impressive.
Yes! Garrett in what sounds like a great show!