Steven Soderbergh continues his streak as one of modern cinema’s most unpredictable, genre-skipping directors (his last few films were a spy thriller, a medical disaster film, a documentary, a true-crime comedy, and an experimental character sketch of a prostitute, respectively) with Magic Mike, a dramedy about a male stripper who really just wants to design custom furniture even as he takes a new young dancer “under his wing and schools him in the fine arts of partying, picking up women, and making easy money.”  Yep, really.

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The loss of Gary Ross as a director of The Hunger Games sequels has been absolutely devastating for devoted fans of burgeoning franchise. As a rabid fan myself (and as a friend of many other rabid fans), I can’t even begin to tell you how crestfallen we are. Ross was truly one of us – an ardent admirer of the series who happened to also don a director’s cap. His respect for the source material was well known, which is why many supporters trusted him with Suzanne Collins’ words. Now, we’re all left scratching our heads and anxious about what’s to come.

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Contagion, the new disease thriller from Steven Soderbergh is a rare smart and entertaing disaster movie. So it’s no surprise that it attracted performers like Matt Damon and Laurence Fishburne. We were at the junket, and they were obviously happy with the movie they made, but the material, it’s easy to see how they got such a great cast. Check it out…

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Fall is off to a great start with Steven Soderbergh‘s Contagion kicking off the September releases. With an all star cast – including Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet and Jude Law among others – the film follows a new disease from Day 2 on as it infects the population, and scientists and doctors attempt to control and cure it. Soderbergh deftly avoids most of the genre’s pitfalls by keeping the film in a “you are there” approach that grounds the material, and will have most audiences reaching for the Purell when the film ends.

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When you craft a film about the next pandemic to rip across the world, you’ve got to do your research, and Scott Z. Burns was very invested in finding out the realities of Contagion. Working with Steven Soderbergh for his fourth time, the two weave a portrait of how disease changes peoples lives, from the victims (Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow) to the people dealing trying to control the spread (Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet) to the head of the Center for Disease Control (Laurence Fishburne) to the doctors working on curing it (Jennifer Ehle), to those who wish to profit from it (Jude Law). It’s a dense script, but made simple, and we talked about the writing process on the film. We also talked briefly about his work on David Fincher‘s upcoming 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Check it out..

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George Clooney might reunite with frequent collaborator Steven Soderbergh on a new project called The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Does that title sound familiar to you because it should. The film will be based on the 1960s television show of the same name that originally starred Robert Vaughn. According to The Playlist, Clooney might be interested in taking on the lead in the big screen adaptation.

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Steven Soderbergh is currently gathering a group of acting “super friends” to star in his next feature film. No, we’re not talking about Knockout, or even the big screen bio-pic Liberace, we’re referring to Contagion. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, it’s because Soderbergh’s known for quietly putting together amazing films that no one ever hears about until he’s ready for them to.

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A while back we brought you news about Steven Soderbergh‘s upcoming femme fatale flick, Knockout. The director cast professional fighter Gina Carano in the lead role, and with such a daring move you’ve got to have some serious backup, so he brought out the big boys for the supporting cast.

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Steven Soderbergh is developing a kick-ass film entitled, Knockout that will star fighter turned actor Gina Carano. The director recently spoke to Empire about his vision for the top secret project that’s had Hollywood buzzing for the past month. From what we can tell, Knockout is a spy thriller about a girl with some serious martial arts skills who uses them to fight corrupt forces.

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