Steven Soderbergh names the most underrated director of all time
Praise is always gratifying, but when it comes from an Academy Award-winning director, it carries extra weight. Steven Soderbergh is one of the few living filmmakers to hold that honour, having won in 2001 for Traffic, the same year Erin Brockovich was also nominated. Even without this achievement, his work on the Ocean’s trilogy, the Solaris remake, and the Magic Mike series has solidified Soderbergh’s status as a directing legend.
Directors always bring a unique insight into other filmmakers. You’d think that there’d be no one better to comment on the profession than a member of it, but some people are too close to the subject matter and can’t see the wood for the trees. That doesn’t make their opinion any less valuable, though, so when Soderbergh named the director he felt was “underrated and under-appreciated”, it was definitely worth listening to.
When speaking to The Hollywood Interview, Soderbergh mentioned that he was editing a book of interviews that he had made alongside the UK-based American filmmaker Richard Lester. When the interview cited the movie Robin and Marian, Lester’s take on the classic tale of Robin Hood, Soderbergh revealed the true extent of his fandom. He said: “He [Lester] invents rock video with A Hard Day’s Night and Help. The Knack, How I Won the War, Petulia which is a masterpiece, the Three Musketeers films which are hilarious and fun, Juggernaut, which is a great movie… Great filmmaker, with a wide range of films and genres.”
The Philadelphia-born director, who also went by Dick, first rose to prominence with the satirical short The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film, which he made alongside comedian Peter Sellers. This caught the attention of The Beatles, who approached Lester about their first feature film, A Hard Day’s Night. More success followed with Superman II and Superman III in the 1980s, and he returned to the world of The Beatles in 1991 when he directed the Paul McCartney concert film Get Back.
Soderbergh and the interviewer continued to fanboy over Lester’s work, particularly the 1979 thriller Cuba. “That’s a fascinating movie,” said the Contagion director. “Flawed, but really the things that people disliked about it when it came out are what makes it interesting now, it’s refusal to sort of play to the idea of a war-torn romance”. Cuba stars Sean Connery as a British soldier living in the island nation in the lead-up to its Communist revolution. Critics were not kind to it when it first came out, but Soderbergh’s endorsement surely inspired some to give it a second look.
Working on this book allowed Soderbergh to form a strong relationship with his idol. He gave his thoughts on why Lester retired from filmmaking in the 1990s: “It was a combination of things triggered by the death of Roy Kinnear during the making of Return of the Musketeers. Lester was absolutely devastated by that and hasn’t made a feature since.” Kinnear, an actor and close friend of Lester’s, died when he was thrown from a horse whilst making the Musketeer movie in 1988. Lester finished the film, but it clearly took a toll on him.
Although his career ended under tragic circumstances, Lester’s legacy is still alive and well, thanks in no small part to Soderbergh’s championing of him. “He’s an incredibly bright, kind, funny man,” the younger director of his older friend concluded. “For my money, I wish he was still directing movies because I think he’s still got movies in him.”
