Steven Soderbergh has always been an indepedent-minded filmmaker from the time broke-out with his Sex, Lies and Videotape and up to his dabbling into microbudgeted, HD-shot films like Bubble and The Girlfriend Experience. In-between such arthouse fares he’s also managed to churn out commercial-friendly works like the Ocean’s Trilogy and to a certain extent both Erin Brockovich and Traffic.

While he surely has earned the ability to choose his projects his last major production didn’t pan out as some have thought it would. I’m talking about the passion project and, one I call the ego-project, epic biopic about Che Guevara which ran so long that it had to be released as two films: The Argentine and Guerrilla. His latest studio offering in The informant! also didn’t light up the box-office or even do marginally well.

Hopefully, the announcement broken by The Playlist site about his upcoming major project will change this pattern. Soderbergh has put on the fast-track the production of a film from Scott Z. Burns’ Contagion script. He will direct this action-thriller which some have labeled as Traffic meets The Stand/Outbreak. The premise of the script details the reaction of the cast of characters to a developing viral pandemic which goes global. The film will take place across four continents and already has snagged quite a talented rollcall of actors: Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet and Jude Law. We’re sure to get more news about further cast developments the closer to the start of filming.

While I like Soderbergh’s “Sundance” films I also think that he can make commercially-entertaining films and has proven that he could with the Ocean’s series. Here’s to hoping that he could create an action-thriller w/ some horror aspects to it with this latest project. It’s always exciting to see a director try on a new genre and see how well they do in it. I’m betting on Soderbergh hitting a home run instead of fouling out.

Source: The Playlist