It’s mainstream’s turn for Soderbergh

Steven Soderbergh is a fascinating filmmaker, the only director I can think of who was nominated twice for a best director Oscar in the same year. His usual pattern is to alternate between making purely commercial films (The Informant, the Oceans trilogy, Traffic, Erin Brokovich) with off-the-wall projects (The Girlfriend Experience, Full Frontal, Schizopolis).

This September it appears he’s going mainstream in a big way with this horror thriller, whose trailer does give away a major plot point (the death of one it’s stars), but I’m guessing that event occurs so early in the film it doesn’t matter.

The picture has a marvelous cast — Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Elliott Gould, John Hawkes (who was superb in last year’s Winter’s Bone) and Sanaa Lathan.