A small piece of contemporary cinema history was written last night in St Andrews, Scotland when Steven Soderbergh sat down with Joe and Anthony Russo on stage at the Sands International Film Festival to discuss their 2002 collaboration Welcome to Collinwood.
Produced by Soderbergh and George Clooney who also stars alongside William H. Macy, Isaiah Washington, Sam Rockwell, Luis Guzmán, and Patricia Clarkson, Welcome to Collinwood was the second feature from the Russos following their debut feature Pieces, which bombed out of Slamdance in 1997. “There was zero interest in the film from anybody but this man over here,” Anthony said of Pieces, pointing towards Soderbergh.
The sex, lies and videotape filmmaker had been present at the doomed Pieces screening at Slamdance and reached out to the directing duo to impart some wisdom. “It was insanely ambitious and dense,” Soderbergh told Deadline’s Mike Fleming Jr, who moderated the talk, of Pieces. “There’s a lot of shots.
Shots I stole. I was just very activated by how activated they were and it was clear they were grinders.” The subsequent friendship between the trio led to Welcome to Collinwood, which Soderbergh produced with Clooney through their now-defunct Section Eight production company for Warner Bros.
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