Watch: Steven Soderbergh Discusses His Career in Film and Spirits

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Steven Soderbergh Discusses Upcoming Projects, the Pandemic, and His Own Brandy in 80-Minute Interview

By Tom Reimann

Published May 20, 2020

Remarkably, nobody addresses what Soderbergh is wearing until roughly an hour into the interview.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh appeared on this week’s episode of Flaviar’s The NightCap Live, a live-streamed talk show for spirits aficionados hosted by Dan Dunn. In the episode, Soderbergh talks in detail about his personal brand of Bolivian Brandy, Singani 63, and reveals how he got into the spirits business in the first place. (Fittingly, it began after he tried Singani for the first time while on location for one of his films.)

Soderbergh appeared on the show (conducted via teleconference, according to social distancing guidelines) dressed in a NASCAR suit, which he explained is a keepsake from his film Logan Lucky. The suit was one of actor Sebastian Stan’s costumes, but the director made it absolutely clear that nobody was walking off set with it but him once filming wrapped. And to be honest, if the guy who made Erin Brockovich wants to wear a NASCAR suit to an interview, I’m not going to tell him no.

the-nightcap-steven-soderbergh-interview — Image via Flaviar

During the wide-ranging conversation, which lasted for nearly 90 minutes, Soderbergh teased some details about his upcoming projects (including a surprise sequel and an update on a long-awaited comedy) and answered several fan-submitted questions about his career and about the world in general. In one response, the director advised a curious viewer which of his films would be best paired with a glass of Singani 63 (his answer is Out of Sight, which he cited as, “One of the few things I’ve made that I really wouldn’t touch anything.”) Another viewer asked what he, as the director of the epidemic thriller Contagion, thought about the coronavirus pandemic, and Soderbergh gave a detailed, thoughtful, and ultimately encouraging answer.

Finally, at the end of the episode Dunn and Soderbergh collected submissions from the viewers listing their top five characters from Soderbergh’s films. The responses were all over the map, including predictable picks like Brockovich and Danny Ocean, along with some true wild cards like Gary Oldman’s Jurgen Mossack from The Laundromat and the bizarre exterminator Elmo Oxygen from Schizopolis. However, the ultimate winner (as selected by Soderbergh himself) chose Martha from the 2005 drama Bubble, and was awarded a handsome linen-backed French 2001: A Space Odyssey poster.

The entire interview is well worth a watch, for anyone interested in fine brandy and/or Soderbergh’s films. You can check it out in the player below (the pre-show countdown ends at about the 30 minute mark).