“I think I'm good at amplifying an actor's strengths, and minimizing their weaknesses. And they all have strengths and weaknesses.” ThinkingActorsWeaknessStrength And WeaknessHaving StrengthMinimizing Author:Steven Soderbergh
“Usually I'm thinking about the palette. I'm thinking about the color for the most part, then I'll start thinking about composition and movement.” ThinkingMovementColorCompositionPalette Author:Steven Soderbergh
“I've tried to get better about weighing what I think the accessibility of an idea is against the cost of executing it. I've tried to be smarter about that, because if you're not smart about that, you're going to be unemployed. But I'm still mystified about what works for people. And I'm not talking about my movies, I'm talking in general. I'm mystified by the stuff that doesn't work. I'm mystified by what's going on in the critical side, too.” PeopleIfsThinkingStillsIdeasStuffSidesTalkingCostSmartCriticalGet BetterSmarterUnemployedNot TalkingBeing SmartAccessibilityWeighingExecuting Author:Steven Soderbergh
“Stuff I like is getting trashed and stuff that is being praised I think is terrible. I don't really feel in sync with what's happening, but at the same time, what I think keeps me afloat is that I try not to be, and don't want to be, very indulgent. I try to make the films as lean as possible, and to not spend a lot of time crawling up my own ass creatively.” ThinkingWantFeelsTryingFilmStuffMy OwnTerribleHappeningsAssCrawlingSyncStuff I Like Author:Steven Soderbergh
“Once I had a potentially heart attack-inducing eight double espressos in one day. I think my assistant secretly swaps my coffees for decaf as she doesn't want me to die of caffeine overdose.” ThinkingWantHeartDiesOne DayEightCoffeeWant MeAssistantsCaffeineHeart AttackEspressoOverdose Author:Steven Soderbergh
“Any time I think out loud, 'I can't believe this is my job,' and remember I am a very lucky duck. Whether marshalling hundreds of zombies, doing crazy stunts or shooting big music numbers, I just feel fortunate to have made my passion my vocation.” ThinkingFeelsBelieveMadeI CanBigsJobsRememberPassionNumbersCrazyLuckyShootingLoudFortunateDucksVocationZombieMy Passion Author:Steven Soderbergh
“There is sadness of when you're watching someone enjoy something that you think is substandard. The ineffable sadness when someone is happy and something is not as good as it should be.” ThinkingShouldEnjoySadnessIneffable Author:Steven Soderbergh
“I think about art a lot only in two contexts. One is narrative... The other thing that I'm interested in, which is tangential, but not unrelated... All art to me is about problem solving.” ThinkingArtTwoProblemNarrativeProblem Solving Author:Steven Soderbergh
“When I look around the world and think why is everything working or not working, it's because it's entrenched ideology. You can't solve a problem if you're sitting down with people who say, "All these ideas are off the table because of what I believe."” PeopleIfsThinkingWorldBelieveLooksIdeasProblemI BelieveSittingTablesSolveIdeologyAround The WorldWorking ItSitting Down Author:Steven Soderbergh
“There's a technical reason why I think that frame rate is weird and it has to with your brain's ability to scan beyond a certain rate. The point is I find it looks weird.” ThinkingLooksReasonCertainAbilityBrainRateReason Why Author:Steven Soderbergh
“I can make a movie about Lee Harvey Oswald and make you feel what he feels and make you understand why he believes what he believes. That doesn't mean I think you should go out and shoot JFK.” ThinkingFeelsShouldBelieveMeanI CanHarvey Author:Steven Soderbergh
“I have a friend whose theory is that you're from wherever you went to high school. I think that's mostly true.” ThinkingSchoolTheoryHigh School Author:Steven Soderbergh
“There's definitely a way of thinking and a way of being in the South that has its advantages and disadvantages.” ThinkingWayAdvantageSouthWay Of ThinkingDisadvantagesAdvantages And Disadvantages Author:Steven Soderbergh
“If you think that because you're Che, when you go into Bolivia, when people find out it's you, that they're going to have the same kind of reaction that the Cubans had to Castro, then you're high.” PeopleIfsThinkingKindReactionsCubanCastroBolivia Author:Steven Soderbergh
“I think there are only two times that I've ever ended up paying somebody their quote. Like what they actually were worth in the marketplace.” ThinkingTwoMarketplace Author:Steven Soderbergh
“I feel I need to really think about whether there's a way to use what skill I have to address things that outrage me, like the 13 year old girl getting stoned to death. Because I don't think making a movie is going to help that, or change that.” ThinkingWayNeedsFeelsYearsHelpingUseGirlSkillsAddressesOutrage Author:Steven Soderbergh
“I think that it's fear. The musicians themselves don't seem to know enough about why they're in the positions they're in, so they're afraid to lose those positions. If you're 22 years old and you can't believe you're even in the position to have a career making music, the first thing you're going to think is: Maintain. Don't lose it. And that's precisely what causes you to lose everything.” IfsThinkingKnowsYearsFirstsBelieveEnoughSeemsCausesLosesCareersPositionMusician Author:Steven Soderbergh
“I was thinking that people have to believe you're crazy in order to take you seriously as an artist. If you're wandering the streets, talking in gibberish, nobody ever asks you to change anything about your art because there's no context for people to look at what you do.” PeopleIfsThinkingBelieveLooksArtArtistOrderAsksTalkingCrazyStreetsArt IsWander Author:Steven Soderbergh
“You can't change who you are, so I think that the only thing you can do is just never talk to people about stuff and then hope that maybe does something.” PeopleThinkingDoeStuffCan DoWho You AreCan't Change Author:Steven Soderbergh
“I think that music is a very difficult art form in which to be avant-garde. When we sit down to listen to a piece of music, I think our implicit hope is that we're going to find it beautiful, or at least emotional, on some level.” ThinkingArtBeautifulFormDifficultLevelsPiecesEmotionalMusic IsImplicitAvant Garde Author:Steven Soderbergh
“I think the feeling that we're going to work together again usually starts to come up before the first project's even done. The Black Keys and I have already talked about starting on something new.” ThinkingFirstsDoneFeelingsTogetherBlackKeysProjectsStartingCome UpWorking TogetherSomething NewGoing To WorkTogether AgainBlack Keys Author:Steven Soderbergh
“I want to form a political party that's based entirely on what music people listen to. To me, it's a much better barometer of what they think and feel than their political stance.” PeopleThinkingWantFeelsFormPoliticalPartyPolitical PartiesStanceBarometer Author:Steven Soderbergh
“I think '60s are appealing to creative people, because it seemed to be a time of endless possibilities, when the boundaries of what could be considered popular culture were being expanded almost by the week. It doesn't feel like that anymore. At times, I wish it were so. Radio is a perfect example; good God, I mean, back then the most interesting songs were also hits, and that's just not true anymore. It hasn't been true in a long time.” PeopleThinkingMeanLongSongCultureWishPerfectInterestingCreativeWeekPossibilityBoundariesMost InterestingCreative PeoplePopular CultureGood God Author:Steven Soderbergh
“I've found through experience that I'm only good when I'm writing something that, in essence, only I could write. The times I've written for hire, for other people, I don't think I've done very well.” PeopleThinkingWritingDone Author:Steven Soderbergh
“Everybody, including me, has to submit to what it needs to be. The thing is at the top of the pyramid, the best version of the thing; we all have to serve that. You forget that at your own risk. And I think movies are too long, in general.” ThinkingLongForgetRiskSubmit Author:Steven Soderbergh
“I'm mystified by the stuff that doesn't work. I'm mystified by what's going on in the critical side, too. Stuff I like is getting trashed and stuff that is being praised I think is terrible. I don't really feel in sync with what's happening, but at the same time, what I think keeps me afloat is that I try not to be, and don't want to be, very indulgent. I try to make the films as lean as possible, and to not spend a lot of time crawling up my own ass creatively.” ThinkingTryingFilmTerribleAss Author:Steven Soderbergh
“I think often people fall into the breadth trap of wanting to do too long a period of time, and obviously there's this sort of algorithm of how much depth you can put into something times how much of their life you're trying to show. My attitude has always been, I'd rather show a briefer period of time in more detail than a longer period of time in less detail.” PeopleThinkingTryingLongFallAttitudeMy Attitude Author:Steven Soderbergh
“I want to thank anyone who spends part of their day creating...anybody who spends part of their day sharing their experience with us-I think this world would be unlivable without art and I thank you.” ThinkingWorldWantArtWould BeHealingThis WorldCreatingTeens Author:Steven Soderbergh
“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.” PeopleThinkingWantKindRealEnoughCharacterStoriesSeemsNumbersQualityTalkingAudienceTelevisionNarrativeComplexityAmbiguityLarge NumbersAmerican MovieWatching Television Author:Steven Soderbergh
“We have to have a version of our own story that we keep telling ourselves that allows us to get up in the morning. This version of yourself is what you sell to yourself. I think it necessarily includes ... not looking at certain things. Everybody's got some blind spot.” ThinkingStoriesCertainMorningBlindSellsVersionsGet UpSpotsBlind Spots Author:Steven Soderbergh
“If you're sitting around thinking what other people think about your work, you'll just become paralysed.” PeopleIfsThinkingSittingSitting Around Author:Steven Soderbergh
