Steven Soderbergh May Be Moving to Television

After a long career making movies, some directors take on an increasing producer capacity (Steven Spielberg) while others go to their garage to tinker with passion projects (George Lucas).  Then there’s Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh, who currently has the male stripper movie Magic Mike out in theaters and two more projects on the horizon (Bitter Pill and Behind the Candelabra).  That last feature may be telling, as it will debut on HBO before opening to a theatrical audience.  And now it seems as if Soderbergh’s career intentions are leaning more towards the small screen in the future.  Hit the jump for some quotes from Soderbergh himself as to his potential move to television.

THR reports that Soderbergh is considering a switch to television after taking a break from Hollywood.  Matt Damon had previously made Soderbergh’s intentions clear to the media via the following quote from the LA Times:

“He wants to paint and he says he’s still young enough to have another career.  He’s kind of exhausted with everything that interested him in terms of form. He’s not interested in telling stories. Cinema interested him in terms of form and that’s it. He says, ‘If I see another over-the-shoulder shot, I’m going to blow my brains out.’”

While Soderbergh admitted that Damon blew his words out of proportion, the director did come back and say this to the Associated Press:

“American movie audiences now just don’t seem to be very interested in any kind of ambiguity or any kind of real complexity of character or narrative — I’m talking in large numbers, there are always some, but enough to make hits out of movies that have those qualities.  I think those qualities are now being seen on television and that people who want to see stories that have those kinds of qualities are watching television.”

And then followed up with a comment to the New York Times:

I’m interested in exploring another art form while I have the time and ability to do so.  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.”

Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing Soderbergh behind some television productions; the small screen can only benefit from it.  What I’d really like to see, however, is a veteran director make some seriously bold decisions and delve into the world of online artistry, an area that has copious amounts of talented individuals but, relatively, an unfortunate shortage of vetted filmmakers.  What do you think about Soderbergh’s potential move? Let us know in the comments!