The Steven Soderbergh movie nobody wanted to make: “It was deliberately outrageous”
When you make as many movies as Steven Soderbergh does, there is no room for delay. The work-a-holic director churns out films like a factory. He is a one-man cinematic conveyor belt, producing pictures of all shapes and sizes, flitting between genres like a ravenous bumblebee, keen to taste the pollen of every single flower.
He’s proven himself to be a viable commodity as well. His ‘Ocean’s’ trilogy took the box office by storm in the mid-2000s, and his other commercial hits include Erin Brockovich, Magic Mike, and Traffic. He’s a critical darling too. Ten of his films have a score of 90% or higher on Rotten Tomatoes and he’s a former ‘Best Director’ honouree at the Academy Awards. Even with all this weight behind him, sometimes people still say no to Soderbergh’s more outlandish demands.
Speaking with Men’s Health, the auteur revealed a project that, no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn’t get off the ground. “ I had this shock comedy that I was trying to get made that nobody wanted to touch,” he said. “That was frustrating.” When asked for more details on the proposed idea, he gave a typical director’s answer. “It’s hard to describe, but it was deliberately outrageous and provocative. And all the people that read it that could potentially pay for it, whether it be companies or wealthy individuals, said, ‘This is too hot.’ So, that was a bummer.”
Soderbergh did eventually give a clue as to what this ‘hot’ prospect was going to be. “I was really interested in making something that was like a full-on comedy, like Blazing Saddles,” he revealed. “Not a subtle comedy. That still appeals to me; it’s just apparent that it’s not going to be that script. But I like the idea of trying to make what would be the equivalent now of Team America or Blazing Saddles. Just something completely batshit crazy… I want it to be outrageous, and to have people laughing at it, and other people going like, ‘I’m not sure you’re allowed to do that.’ That kind of thing.”
Evoking the legendary name of Blazing Saddles is a great way to turn heads. This 1974 Mel Brooks classic is still regarded as one of the funniest films ever made. The movie is chock full of offensive stereotypes and line-crossing moments, all of which are expertly handled, but rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way in the stuffy world of the 1970s. Warner Bros. were so disgusted by the project that they tried to bury it and actor Hedy Lamarr, the subject of a running joke in the film, sued the distributors for invasion of privacy and defamation of character.
Whilst Soderbergh has dabbled with funny films in the past, he hasn’t made anything you would describe as a straight-up ‘comedy’. Out of Sight has humorous elements, but is very much a crime picture. Logan Lucky is a heist comedy, whilst Schizopolis, an early work starring himself, is straight-up bonkers.
The director has announced his next project (naturally), a black comedy called The Christophers. Could this be the script that had previously been turned down? Given that Soderbergh talked about it so dismissively in 2025, it’s unlikely. Maybe that idea will come to light one of these days, which gives us plenty of time to prepare for the backlash it will inevitably receive.
