After shooting his latest movie in secret, the premiere of Steven Soderbergh’s new thriller flick Unsane at the Berlin International Film Festival demonstrates the different approach the director is taking with his filmmaking career. While he no longer wants to work on big studio productions, the most notable difference is his desire to only film movies using an iPhone.
When asked about exclusively shooting on an iPhone, Soderbergh commented, “I’d have to have a pretty good reason not to be thinking about that first… There’s a philosophical obstacle a lot of people have about the size of the capture device. I don’t have that problem. I look at this as potentially one of the most liberating experiences that I’ve ever had as a filmmaker, and that I continue having. The gets that I felt moment to moment were so significant that this is, to me, a new chapter.”
Soderbergh began experimenting with different types of digital capture as early as 2002 with Full Frontal. Sixteen years later, the Academy Award-winning director feels no other device quite compares to the iPhone. “People forget, this is a 4k capture,” said Soderbergh. “I’ve seen it 40 feet tall. It looks like velvet. This is a gamechanger to me.”
No stranger to both massive studio productions and independent filmmaking, Soderbergh’s decision proves how iPhones are revolutionizing Hollywood. Aspiring directors don’t need anything more than an iPhone to film a masterpiece. All of the bells, whistles, and expensive hardware of moviemaking might go the way of the dinosaur as iPhone and mobile technology advance.
Unsane starring Claire Foy and Juno Temple hits select theaters on March 23, 2018.