Cate Blanchett Starring in Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Black Bag’

Preview:

• Steven Soderbergh planning new movie ‘Black Bag’.
• Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender are on board to star.
• David Koepp wrote the script for the movie.

Steven Soderbergh already has one movie heading our way this year –– his latest release, ‘Prescence’, stars Lucy Liu, Julia Fox and Chris Sullivan and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this month.

Yet he’s already putting the pieces together for another film, and it features another batch of exciting actors, with legendary writer David Koepp also on board.

What are the details of Steven Soderbergh’s next film?

Director Steven Soderbergh on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures’ musical comedy ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo: Claudette Barius. Copyright: © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Soderbergh’s new project, as covered by The Hollywood Reporter, is called ‘Black Bag’, and has Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender attached.

As originally reported by Jeff Sneider at The InSneider newsletter, ‘Black Bag’ is now out to studios and other potential backers, so any forward progress will depend on a deal for financing and distribution. But given the talent involved, we don’t think that’ll be a problem.

The aim is to shoot this one in May in London, which confirms a U.K. setting, but other details including the plot are being kept quiet for now.

‘Black Bag’ would reunite the director with two actors, who appeared in different past projects for him –– Blanchett was among the leads of 2006 noir ‘The Good German’, while Fassbender was a key part of the cast for 2011’s action thriller ‘Haywire’.

And Koepp is also a previous collaborator with the filmmaker. The writer, famous for the likes of ‘Jurassic Park’ and the original ‘Mission Impossible’ (among a long list of credits), wrote ‘Kimi’ for Soderbergh, which was released via streaming service Max in 2022, and also worked on ‘Presence’.

This is just the latest secretive high-profile project featuring a big-name director and potential cast, as Ryan Coogler has a project with Michael B. Jordan attached to star that is generating plenty of interest.

Related Article: Movie Review: ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’

Is Steven Soderbergh returning to the ‘Ocean’s’ franchise?

(L to R) George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Brad Pitt in 2004’s ‘Ocean’s Twelve.’

Soderbergh’s busy schedule certainly seems to point to the idea that he won’t be making any more ‘Ocean’s movies after directing the trilogy and being an executive producer on ‘Ocean’s Eight’ (which co-starred Blanchett).

And indeed, when asked by Variety whether he’d return, he was quick to shoot down any such idea.

Here’s what Soderbergh said a few days ago:

“After we made the third movie, I felt like the series was very much concluded for me. When the studio approached me to see if I’d be involved in continuing the franchise, I told them no, because it just doesn’t feel like a move forward for me. I’m chasing something else.”

Now we know what else…

Steven Soderbergh, winner of the Best Director Oscar for the film ‘Traffic’ poses for a photo backstage at the 73rd Annual Academy Awards March 25 in Los Angeles.

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