Check out the creepy trailer for 'Side Effects,' Steven Soderbergh's latest

Steven Soderbergh has directed six feature films in four years. He's also credited with a documentary during that time, served as a second unit director for The Hunger Games, and has a smattering of producer, executive producer, and "Very Special Thanks" credits on his IMDB list. No wonder the man has announced that he plans to retire. He still has at least one project that hasn't been released, Side Effects, starring Rooney Mara and Channing Tatum, Soderbergh's new muse. Tatum appeared in this year's  Magic Mike and Haywire. The trailer for Side Effects just hit YouTube, and man does it look creepy...and cryptic.

 

Mara plays a woman whose anxiety and fraught relationship with Tatum are helped by a new drug. Then someone gets murdered, and it's implied that she may have done the deed while under the influence of the drug, unbeknownst to her. Jude Law plays a shady drug executive, and Catherine Zeta-Jones appears to be a more skeptical peer of Law. Limitless recently explored the good (and bad) side effects of a drug, and was something of a surprise success. Side Effects certainly taps into a cultural anxiety about being altered by medication. Any number of drugs taken by millions of Americans could loosely describe the one taken by Mara, so I think Soderbergh has chosen an apt subject. But will people turn out?

The performance of Soderbergh's movies at the box office boggles me. It's easy to see why his Ocean's Eleven series was such a success, for example, but I was surprised by the performance of this year's Haywire and Magic Mike. Haywire was one of the best action movies I've seen in a long time, with interesting, realistic combat sequences and a cool female heroine. But then Magic Mike turned out to be the bigger success, pulled along by females in the Heartland--although they may have been more gaga for Dear John and The Vow star Channing Tatum than Soderbergh's auteur status as a director. At least if you're Soderbergh, a lukewarm success can be chased by a hit just months later, instead of dealing with years-long lags before your next big work.

Side Effects will open on February 8, 2013, through Open Road Films.

Rooney Mara cast in Steven Soderbergh's 'Side Effects'

Didn't director Steven Soderbergh say he was retiring? In March he announced he was done with it all, but then in September he backtracked and said something about a sabbatical. I'm not exactly sure when that would take place. Soderbergh's one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood. Contagion came out in September, and Haywire in January--both to critical success. He has yet another film completed, Magic Mike, and now he's cast Rooney Mara in his next project, Side Effects.

Mara will play the wife of a man who is about to be released from prison. She's taking large amounts of depression and anxiety pills to cope with her feelings surrounding his release. There's also going to be a bit of a love triangle between Mara's character, her husband, and her doctor. Mara actually replaces Blake Lively, who IMDB suggests was a second choice to begin with. I'm curious how this role will tweak Mara's star image. After playing a regular college girl in The Social Network, Mara's looks went to extremes for her role as the Swedish punk hacker in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The look has been maintained for her publicity tours. She's currently on the cover of Vanity Fair's Young Hollywood with a vampy look--a severe bob, dark lipstick, and piercing expression. I'm not sure what look she'll go for with Side Effects, but it probably will be more natural. That's a good thing. I won't miss seeing her without those weird blunt-cut, jet-black bangs.

Channing Tatum, Jude Law, and Catherine Zeta-Jones round out the cast. That means that Tatum must be the prisoner, and Law the doctor. I really can't imagine it any other way. Soderbergh's frequent collaborator, Scott Z. Burns, wrote the screenplay and will produce. Knowing Soderbergh's lightning-fast schedule, the drama will shoot this year and release the next. Maybe all that talk of retiring fired Soderbergh up, because after the uneven The Informant! he's had a couple of winners, Contagion and Haywire, at least in my book.

As for Mara, IMDB's currently ranking her #1 on its StarMeter. She's just been nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress. She may be one of my favorite up-and-comers. Her lead in Side Effeccts will certainly be the first of many roles she'll be cast in as she cashes in on her success.

Will 'Haywire' make Gina Carano the next female action hero?

By Sarah Sluis

Who is Gina Carano? That was the question on my mind after watching the trailer for director Steven Soderbergh's Haywire. She has a cool, commanding presence, managing to look like she's an accomplished marine. The spy-action flick premiered at the AFI Fest this week, and THR critic Todd McCarthy has already weighed in and given the movie an enthusiastic thumbs-up. He praises Carano by way of Soderbergh, saying:

"In the end the show belongs to Soderbergh, who took a risk with a largely untested leading lady, and Carano, whose shoulders, and everything else, prove plenty strong enough to carry the film. The director shrewdly determined what she could and perhaps couldn't do, and she delivered with a turn that makes other actresses who have attempted such roles, no matter how toned and buff they became, look like pretenders.

After sampling the footage in the trailer, I agree with his statement. Carano looks so real. She's also not saddled with some of the ridiculous, objectifying costume choices that often accompany female action heroes. There's a reason Carano looks so good fighting. She's a ranked mixed martial arts fighter who has also appeared on shows like "American Gladiators."

The Relativity release will open Jan. 20, that post-holiday doldrums period. Yet the movie looks so much better than it needs to be. It's stripped down, with not a lot of expensive explosions--I bet this was a fairly inexpensive movie to make. Plus, there's no better justification for lots of high-powered, skilled fighting than a double-crossed spy dealing with her employers-turned-enemies, so forget having to suspend disbelief in order to enjoy the sparring.

With the exception of relative newcomer Carano, Soderbergh assembled a well-known cast: Bill Paxton, whose underrated voice is up there with his co-star's, Michael Douglas. Rising star Michael Fassbender (Shame), Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, and Antonio Banderas round out the cast. Wow.

Look out, Angelina Jolie. Carano looks like the new female action hero in town.

STEVEN SODERBERGH MOVES FROM CHE TO LIBERACE; FLOWER FILMS ACQUIRES ROMCOM

By Sarah Sluis

Steven Soderbergh has double news today. First off, his biopic Che, which showed at Toronto as well as Cannes, has been picked up by IFC Films. The choice of IFC was a bit of surprise, as the filmmakers had actively pursuing deals with other studios. In the end, IFC's "enthusiasm" won out, which may or may not be a euphemism for "Oscar marketing dollars." IFC plans on releasing the film for a week in NY/LA to qualify it for the Oscars, and then re-releasing the film in January on video-on-demand as well as a theatrical release. Che will become of the most expensive films to pursue such a strategy, but Soderbergh has been open to experimental release strategies, pioneering simultaneous video/theatre releases with Bubble back in 2005. For a film like Che, which consists of two, 120-minute film, the length and form links it a mini-series, making it a natural fit for television and on demand and its pause-for-popcorn and bathroom break button.

After profiling a Marxist South American revolutionary executed by his enemies, the logical next step for Soderbergh is Liberace, the flamboyant and theatrical piano player who had millions of women fooled until he died of AIDS and his lover sued to inherit his money. Overwrought glissandos aside, Soderbergh actually has some meaty work on his hands. As a director who likes to weigh in on social and political issues in his biopics (second example: Erin Brockovich) I imagine that AIDS and Liberace's closeted identity will figure prominently into the script.

Drew Barrymore's production company, Flower Films, picked up the book How to Be Single. They're currently producing another title by the same author, Liz Tuccillo, He's Just Not That Into You, which has a scheduled release date of February 9, 2009 (right before Valentine's Day, hmm). One thing I find curious about Flower Films is its choice of content�middle-budget romantic comedies, and other films where Barrymore steps down and takes a supporting role. Star-led production companies usually are formed to find Oscar-worthy roles for their founders, but perhaps compensation is a bigger concern for Barrymore. This route certainly would allow Barrymore to make a larger profit on the films she produces. On a related note, Domino did a feature on Flower Films' production offices back in April, and they have the most gorgeous, best-place-to-produce-romantic-comedies workplace imaginable, which you can look at here.