NYFF Interview: Steven Soderbergh

By Katey Rich: 2008-10-05 16:48:58

Che didn't exactly receive a rapturous reception at its New York Film Festival press screening, and Steven Soderbergh seemed to know it. Though he was loose and funny throughout the press conference that followed the film, he also threw out multiple references to the movie's immense running time, its unusual take on the biopic, and the general consensus that the movie won't make a fraction of its money back. Is he just tired of the criticism, or has he gone and given up on his own movie?

Check out excerpts from the press conference below, which was at least enlivened by Soderbergh's own self-deprecation. Think you're not tough enough to have fought alongside Che Guevara? Well, if you're willing to sit through his four-hour movie, Soderbergh thinks you have what it takes after all.

How did you start the project, and what brought you to it to begin with?
Benicio and I started that process eight years ago, during Traffic. It was only after the two films were finished that I realized what they were really about. What related to me was this issue of engagement versus disengagement. Every day in our lives, we’re making decisions. Do we want to participate, or do we want to observe? And I realized that what was compelling to me about Che was that when he decided to engage, he engaged fully.

How much research did you do? And what kind of research?
You go to the book store and there's a wall of Che books. I think J.G.. Ballard sad that research is the refuge of the unimaginative. And there were times where I thought he was absolutely right. We were just overwhelmed with information. [...] I didn't want to have a scene where somebody said, "Hey, why do they call you Che?" We found these crazy little stories [instead].

There are so many stories to tell about Che, but one you didn't include is the work he did in the Congo. Why wasn't that included?
Well, if this movie makes $100 million, we'll make a third one. The story of Che in the Congo is absolutely fascinating. It's a fascinating chapter, but it didn't really fall into the bookend idea that we ended up with. When the film was first being developed, it was only about Bolivia. It was in the process of working on that that we realized it really doesn't make a lot of sense unless you see Cuba. You have to see what happened in Cuba to understand why he still thought they were going to pull this off [in Bolivia].

What is the way you want the film to be seen? Will it be released as two films? One massive four-hour epic?
Five one-hour movies? Here's our plan. When the movie enters a specific market, for one week on one screen, you get to see it the way you just saw [both movies back to back]. It's a lot to ask of someone, to throw away an entire day. Cinematically, we're making a demand on the audience that's very similar to the demands Che made on the people around him. It requires a certain kind of personality.

How difficult was it getting the film financed and produced?
Well, all I can say is I'm glad we're not raising money for it now. It was complicated, but we knew it would be-- I mean, look at it. It was a group of people sticking it out for a long time, and just believing in the commercial viability of the brand Che. That's the weird paradox about this guy Here's this icon of Marxist, Leninist economic ideology, and you stick his face on anything and it sells. It's a very weird situation. [...] The bottom line is that just getting it done was kind of the point.

This film will be viewed as a political film, given who Che was and that everything is politics. Do you find it political?
I guess I believe that any movie that accurately presents anyones life, or any situation-- any movie that's not a fantasy, is to me by definition a political film. This is a political film in the sense that there's an ideology that's being expressed, but that isn't what drew me to it ultimately. I'm obviously not a communist. As I said to someone several weeks ago, there isn't even a place for me in the society that Che was trying to build. Literally, he says there is no great artist who is also a great revolutionary. He didn't have a lot of use for the work that I do. Personally, he probably would have hated me.

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