The Good German (Steven Soderbergh, 2006)

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Jeff
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The Good German (Steven Soderbergh, 2006)

#1 Post by Jeff » Tue Aug 22, 2006 9:13 pm

Noir-tastic production stills: 1 - 2 - 3
Last edited by Jeff on Sun Sep 07, 2008 9:11 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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jorencain
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#2 Post by jorencain » Tue Aug 22, 2006 9:37 pm

Wow; those really do look great. I'm kind of ambivalent when it comes to Soderbergh, but I will definitely be checking that out.

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miless
Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2006 9:45 pm

#3 Post by miless » Wed Aug 23, 2006 1:00 am

i'm guessing that this is not one of those 6 or so films that he signed up to do for HDNet Films (the first being Bubble)...

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#4 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Wed Aug 23, 2006 7:18 am

miless wrote:i'm guessing that this is not one of those 6 or so films that he signed up to do for HDNet Films (the first being Bubble)...
No, it's WB. It would be somewhat interesting, however, if someone made a b&w film in HD. If those stills are any indication, it should be good.

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Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

#5 Post by Matt » Wed Aug 23, 2006 10:54 am

I can't stop staring at Clooney's perfect, perfect teeth.

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Antoine Doinel
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#6 Post by Antoine Doinel » Fri Sep 01, 2006 3:14 pm

Cate Blanchett offers some interesting bits of info in a brief Q&A with NY Mag:

[quote]Cate Blanchett: Highbrow Brilliant

By Emma Rosenblum

What was Soderbergh like as a director?
The Good German is a highly stylized noir piece, so he'd written this little one-page manifesto for us that began, “Dear Thespian,â€

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Matt
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#7 Post by Matt » Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:44 pm

Casablanca, anyone?

Still, best Soderbergh poster since Out of Sight.

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Len
Joined: Sun Nov 21, 2004 7:48 pm
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#8 Post by Len » Wed Sep 20, 2006 6:13 pm

As long as we're speaking Soderbergh posters, I'm a big fan of The Limey poster myself. But I do love the Good German poster too, wouldn't mind getting one for my wall (if I had space for one that is).

The film looks really good too, as do George's teeth. Wouldn't want to have to wait for the dvd, hopefully it gets a theatrical release over here at some point.

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Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

#9 Post by Matt » Wed Sep 20, 2006 6:22 pm

Len wrote:As long as we're speaking Soderbergh posters, I'm a big fan of The Limey poster myself.
I had forgotten how good that one was. A nice take on Blue Note album covers (and the poster references a particular one that I can't quite place at the moment).

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Steven H
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#10 Post by Steven H » Wed Sep 20, 2006 6:29 pm

this one?

Image

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Matt
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#11 Post by Matt » Wed Sep 20, 2006 6:35 pm

Nice work.

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Fletch F. Fletch
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#12 Post by Fletch F. Fletch » Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:03 am

Matt wrote:Casablanca, anyone?

Still, best Soderbergh poster since Out of Sight.
Agreed! That is one helluva nice poster. Very classy and retro.

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Jeff
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#13 Post by Jeff » Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:00 pm

Here is another Casablancaesque still. The official site is up, but has nothing on it apart from some more cool key art.

Does anyone know how Soderbergh went about shooting this in black and white? There are a few ways to do it.

a.) Shoot on actual black and white stock. (Schindler's List)
b.) Shoot on color stock and print to high-contrast black and white. (The Man Who Wasn't There)
c.) Shoot on color stock and digitally color time to black and white. (Good Night and Good Luck)
d.) Shoot on HD Digital.

I'm guessing that option (a) would be the one most likely to make the film look like it was shot in 1945, which certainly seems to be what he's going for here, but that is so rarely done anymore. Also, IMDb (which I realize is wrong more often than right) lists the aspect ratio as 1.66:1. Since no theaters in the U.S. regularly project at this ratio, and most mainstream ones are not even equipped to do so, I'm guessing that he has hard-matted a 1.66 image within a 1.85 frame. Probably a compromise between Soderbergh wanting to do it in academy ratio and the studio saying "no way."

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tryavna
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#14 Post by tryavna » Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:05 pm

Jeff wrote:Does anyone know how Soderbergh went about shooting this in black and white? There are a few ways to do it.

a.) Shoot on actual black and white stock. (Schindler's List)
b.) Shoot on color stock and print to high-contrast black and white. (The Man Who Wasn't There)
c.) Shoot on color stock and digitally color time to black and white. (Good Night and Good Luck)
d.) Shoot on HD Digital.
Which option did Soderbergh choose when he filmed Kafka? That might be a good indication, though I'm not sure if that movie's color segments forced him into an option that he wouldn't choose now.

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Jeff
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#15 Post by Jeff » Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:19 pm

tryavna wrote:Which option did Soderbergh choose when he filmed Kafka? That might be a good indication, though I'm not sure if that movie's color segments forced him into an option that he wouldn't choose now.
That's a good question, and one I'm afraid I don't know the answer to. I'm ashamed to admit that I still haven't seen Kafka. Since it was made 1991, I'm betting that the black and white sequences were shot on black and white film.

Cinesimilitude
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#16 Post by Cinesimilitude » Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:48 pm

I hate Steven Soderbergh but this looks excellent. I'll check it out on the big screen for sure. I would love to see it be Academy ratio, that would rule.

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souvenir
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#17 Post by souvenir » Sat Oct 14, 2006 10:46 pm

Soderbergh also used black and white on"Equilibrium," his segment for Eros.

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Antoine Doinel
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#18 Post by Antoine Doinel » Wed Oct 18, 2006 11:40 pm

Here's the trailer

And holy hell, does it look gorgeous.

che-etienne
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#19 Post by che-etienne » Thu Oct 19, 2006 12:01 am

Blanchett evoking Dietrich in what will probably be another brilliant performance she won't win the oscar for

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Matt
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#20 Post by Matt » Thu Oct 19, 2006 12:26 am

che-etienne wrote:Blanchett evoking Dietrich in what will probably be another brilliant performance she won't win the oscar for
God, how I love her. On the Oscarwatch.com predictions, this picture seems not even to be in consideration. But Blanchett is in their sights for both Babel and Notes on a Scandal (which was a bad book destined to be a forgettable movie; I don't care if Patrick Marber did write for I'm Alan Partridge).

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zedz
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#21 Post by zedz » Thu Oct 19, 2006 4:28 pm

Matt wrote:
che-etienne wrote:Blanchett evoking Dietrich in what will probably be another brilliant performance she won't win the oscar for
God, how I love her.
Just a quick dart further off-topic: have you seen Little Fish? The film gets more conventional as it goes on, but the performances are superb, with Cate approaching career-best in a completely uncharacteristic role.

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Matt
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#22 Post by Matt » Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:25 pm

zedz wrote:Just a quick dart further off-topic: have you seen Little Fish?
Haven't, but I'll drop it in the queue.

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domino harvey
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#23 Post by domino harvey » Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:46 pm

it's great that you can sort of tell what the movie's really like, even though it's been edited together into a braindead plot driven action thriller by the trailer.

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Jeff
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#24 Post by Jeff » Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:56 pm

For those in the L.A. area, the American Cinemateque will be doing a public sneak preview of this on November 12 - a good month before its actual release. It's on a double-bill with (surprise) Casablanca, with Soderbergh speaking between the films.

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Antoine Doinel
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#25 Post by Antoine Doinel » Fri Nov 10, 2006 1:25 am

It looks like this is Soderbergh's homage to the classic noirs from the war era. Check out the press materials (via The Hot Blog):

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