Steven Soderbergh announces his retirement(yeah right)

I learned long ago not to take anybody's retirment seriously, at least not in the realm of entertainment. So now one of my favorite filmmakers, Steven Soderbergh, has gone and told the NFL Network's Rich Eisen(why him???????) of his plans to retire from the business. He plans for his Liberace biopic, which is set to star Michael Douglas and Matt Damon to be his farewell gig, unless he scores the job of helming The Man from U.N.C.L.E.  Neither of those seems like a movie I'd expect Soderbergh to bow out on.  I'd expect it to be Oceans 14 or something. Or Bubble 2: The Revenge. Ok maybe not.

This comes at an interesting time in Soderbergh's career, where he's taking his first real crack at an espionage flick with Haywire(formerly Knock Out) due to be released in April. He's also got the viral outbreak film, Contagion, coming out in October. That flick stars a powerhouse cast consisting of Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jude Law.

I've been a big fan of Soderbergh's ever since he made Jennifer Lopez appear(it would turn out to be a ruse) to be a legit actress in Out of Sight. Ever since then, whether his movies were grand slams(Traffic) or dismal strike-outs(The Girlfriend Experience), his choices have always been interesting and his films innovative. I doubt he's actually going to retire. Probably just take some time off, and eventually we'll see him come back around to filmmaking with one of his experimental projects.