Soderbergh kicks off STF’s spring season

• by Raphaela Neihausen, April 10, 2010

Steven Soderbergh took center stage for STF’s Opening Night presentation of his new documentary AND EVERYTHING IS GOING FINE about the monologuist Spalding Gray. Soderbergh was joined in the Q&A by his editor Susan Littenberg, producer Amy Hobby and Gray’s widow Kathie Russo.

Soderbergh said he instantly agreed to the project when Russo proposed it. When the production took longer than anticipated, he bought it back from the original investors and plans for a small theatrical release in the fall.

Combing through 90 hours of archival material, the film team made a choice to only use pre-existing material and not shoot any new interviews. Soderbergh said he couldn’t imagine any fresh way to shoot new interviews. “After Errol Morris, what else can you do?” he said.

The film makes memorable use of an interview that Gray gave in 2001 during the filming of Barbara Kopple’s doc about the Hamptons. Kopple and one of her editors Jean Tsien were in the STF audience that included other notable film figures including Doug Liman, Elvis Mitchell and Gary Winick.

For more about the film, see Anthony Kaufman’s blog. 

(Top photo courtesy of EJ; additional photos below courtesy of Joshua Z Weinstein)

L to R: Amy Hobby, Kathie Russo, Thom Powers, Steven Soderbergh, Susan Littenberg

STF passholder Yoni Brook chats with Steven Soderbergh at the post-film reception.

Laure Parsons joins Doug Block and his wife Marjorie (Doug’s new film THE KIDS GROW UP shows at STF on April 14)

Susan Littenberg, editor of AND EVERYTHING IS GOING FINE, and Jean Tsien, an editor on Barbara Kopple’s “The Hamptons” discuss the “howling dog footage.”

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