1. Some Sort of Hybrid Soderbergh, Traffic, and Solaris

2. Soderbergh Overview After breakthrough success of sex, lies and videotape (1989), Soderbergh’s work ranges from very low budget to glossy studio fare: Kafka (1991), King of the Hill (1993), The Underneath (1995)=disappointments Schizopolis and Gray’s Anatomy (1996)=restorative low budget fare Out of Sight (1998) and The Limey (1999)=mixture of mainstream and indy qualities

3. Indy Credentials Full Frontal (2002) Bubble (2005) Che: Part One and Two (2008) The Girlfriend Experience (2009) And Everything is Going Fine (2010) The Last Time I Saw Michael Gregg (2011)

4. More Mainstream Fare Ocean’s Eleven (2001) plus Twelve (2004) and Thirteen (2007) The Good German (2006) The Informant! (2009) Contagion (2011) Haywire (2011)

5. Bridge indie/ Hollywood Divide Partnership from 1999 with George Clooney in Section Eight, a production company with a first-look deal at Warner Brothers Abortive plans from 2001-2002 for new company, F-64 Traffic and Solaris as examples of Indiewood

6. Similarities: Traffic and Solaris Combine mainstream and indy qualities: Traffic: wide-ranging and potentially contentious multi-strand exploration of the drug trade Solaris: a meditation on love and identity that refuses to fulfill the more conventional expectations that might arise from its science fiction setting

7. Similarities, cont. Adaptations Traffic adapts the British Channel 4 drama series Traffik (1989) Solaris adapts the novel by Stanislaw Lem and the Andrei Tarkovsky art-house film version from 1972

8. Prehistory, production Traffic: attached to producer Laura Bickford Both distinctive and big budget Conflict with Michael Douglas as star (Harrison Ford?) Went into production with Douglas at USA Films, the favored venue Star-casting was important

9. Preproduction, production, cont. Solaris Paired with James Cameron’s production company, Lightstorm Entertainment at Fox Fox okay with it because no potential for controversy Offered the prospect of an elemetn of prestige It helped that Clooney came on board for his third collaboration with Soderbergh The role of Cameron also helped

10. Blend of Studio and Indie Traffic: Soderbergh given free rein to shoot film in manner learned from indie films unusual mixture of logistics of multi-location large-cast Hollywood production and the use of a stripped-down indie apprach that included Soderbergh acting as his own director of photography and performing much of the handheld camerawork himself. (also on Solaris)

11. Marketing and release Traffic: Academy award material since released in Christmas/New Year period Nominated for Academy Award (with Erin Brockovich, another Soderbergh film) and won Also won best adapted screenplay and best supporting actor (Benicio Del Toro) and best editing) Provided USA with prestige and a respectable 124 million gross in domestic market

12. Marketing/release, cont. Solaris: fared less well despite combining sci fi with love story Larger opening at Thanksgiving that failed Deemed an art film by some critics Publicity campaign did not capture true flavor of film Sold very differently than Traffic in trailers and posters (teaser versus main trailers less effective for Solaris).

13. Traffic Hollywood social conscience or problem picture Multi-strand narrative approach like indies Use of subtitles more indie than Hollywood Focus on lives, dilemmas, and actions of individuals to negotiate broader issue = Hollywood Uses more indie audio-visual texture—aesthetic distance, grainy ochre tone, blue tinting for drug-related experiences, etc. with hand-held camera (The Battle of Algiers (1966) as influence, as well as McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971). Verite effects: jump cuts, Martinez soundtrack, anempathetic music

14. Solaris Greater centrality of romance connects film to Hollywood Color-coded settings=more indie More affirmative ending=more Hollywood Slow and mesmeric by Hollywood standards (long shot lengths) A classy, prestige production

15. Responses Importance of auteurist dimension Reviews figure more importantly than viewing decisions at the specialist end of the spectrum More arty or aestheticized qualities of the films do not seem, in general, to eclipse the social-political dimension.