Everyone–including other big time movie directors–is excited about ”Avatar.”
And really, if Steven Soderbergh is impressed, shouldn’t we all be?
Anyway, the point here is that buzz has already been building about James Cameron’s long-awaited “Avatar,” even though it’s not opening until December 18th; the New York Times already had a feature about it last weekend.
Now onto Mr. Soderbergh. While out promoting his new film “The Girlfriend Experience,” he spoke to ComingSoon about the state of movies in general and how it’s so difficult for a film to make a huge cultural impact with all the plethora of movies and other entertainment choices out there. However, he singled out “Avatar” as a movie that could be a game-changer for the industry. He said:
“I’ve seen some stuff and holy sh*t. It’s the craziest sh*t ever. That could negate everything I just said.”
Hmmm…I’ve tended to be in the camp of those who think “Avatar” might just be a long, dull, special-effects overload of a movie, but if Soderbergh–who I generally like, even when his films don’t work–likes it, then maybe there’s something there. If so, then good for Cameron. If you’re going to put that much time and effort into something for heaven’s sake, it better pay off.
As for Soderbergh, he’s pretty busy, including with the aforementioned “The Girlfriend Experience,” which managed to make news in the New York Post, which ran a story saying that Gray Goose Vodka pulled its sponsorship from a party for the screening of the movie after finding out it was about (and stars)an adult film star. Soderbergh was not happy:
“When they found out Sasha is an adult star, they no longer sponsored it,” Soderbergh fumed to Rolling Stone, adding, “Porn is beyond mainstream now, to the point where everyone on TV looks like they’re in porn, but there’s still an attitude that porn is wrong.”
It’s true. If you can make jokes with your mom about people watching porn online at work, then the subject has gotten pretty dull. To be fair, Gray Goose said the reason for backing out was the cost of the party, but it’s much more fun to envision vodka pushers as puritanical hypocrites, isn’t it?
