HOLLYWOOD -- Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh is his own harshest critic.
The version of his science fiction love story Solaris that is playing in cinemas was not his first cut.
"My first cut of Solaris only just worked. It was a bicycle, but it needed to be a car," says Soderbergh who went back to his editing room and started all over again.
He'd done a few test screenings of his first cut and sensed that "people didn't care about the characters. I could see I needed to go back and give people a reason to care."
Solaris is the futuristic story os a psychiatrist (George Clooney), who is still grappling with the suicide of his wife (Natascha McElhone) when he is sent on a mission into space.
Before they broke off all communications, the crew of a space station was orbiting the planet Solaris. What the doctor discovers upon reaching the station is Solaris is an intelligence that has the power to allow people to relive important crossroads in their lives.
The doctor is reuited with a clone of his dead wife.
"The film deals with the notion of predestination. It looks at the view that our existence is like a lab-control situation so that, even given a second chance, people will repeat the behaviour patterns -- even the destructive ones."
Soderbergh says that, for all its sci-fi trappings, Solaris is a love story.
"It's not real science fiction. It's not about sci-fi hardware and gimmicks and special effects. It's about emotions and dealing with the undertow of a previous relationship."
Though Clooney is one of Soderbergh's best friends, he admits the actor was not his first choice to play the doctor in Solaris. "My first impulse was that Daniel Day-Lewis was perfect for the role. Unfortunately he was committed. I knew George could tackle the role, but I wasn't so sure he felt he could. I was a bit leery because I don't think George is fully aware of his abilities."
That's when Soderbergh received a letter."George had read my screenplay while we were working on Ocean's Eleven and he wrote me one of his famous George letters. In it, he told me he wanted to try the role and explained why he felt he was ready for the challenge."
Soderbergh knows there will be people disappointed that he didn't make Solaris a more traditional sci-fi adventure thriller. "We wanted to make a 2001: A Space Odyssey for our generation of moviegoers. Stanley Kubrick's (1968) film is one of the most important films in the history of cinema. I hope there is no shame in trying to make a movie in that arena."
Everyone from studio executives to the cast members of Ocean's Eleven want him to write a sequel to that $181-million box-office hit. "I'll only do it if it costs less than the first one. I want everyone at every level to come on board to make the movie, not the money."
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