Steven Soderbergh retires after final film premiere

NEW YORK CITY, USA – At the premier of psychological thriller Side Effects, actors and actresses turned somber at the mention of acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh’s retirement.

Vanity Fair reports that co-stars Jude Law and Catherine Zeta-Jones are saddened with Soderbergh’s decision to leave film. 

“I’m just devastated,” said Zeta-Jones in the report. “Because any actress or actor who has never worked with him, it’s a real shame, because it’s a treat. It’s how filmmaking should be, from top to bottom.”

Soderbergh, who also directed Magic Mike, Ocean’s Eleven, and Traffic, announced his retirement as early as 2011 and said Side Effects would be his last film. The director has been critical of the treatment of Hollywood producers and financers of fellow directors.

“It’s become absolutely horrible the way the people with the money decide they can fart in the kitchen, to put it bluntly. It’s not just studios – it’s who is financing a film,” Sodebergh told New York Magazine.

He plans to focus his energy on painting, he said.

Side Effects co-star Channing Tatum said he learned a lot from the director after doing 3 films together. “It’s sad that he’s not going to make any more, because I want to learn more. But I’m glad that he’s going to go on and do something that he really loves, and wants to do,” he said.

Though there is some hope that Sodebergh may return to film, his friends and colleagues say it will take some time to get him to change his mind. – with reports from Zak Yuson/Rappler.com