Director Steven Soderbergh burns with a devouring passion for editing films… Especially if they are not his own! The proof with this astonishing version of “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, without dialogue and in black and white!
Steven Soderbergh is a passionate director, notoriously a cinephile, a real jack of all trades, and what’s more, a technophile, fond of experimenting with new material during his filming. But he also burns with a devouring passion that few people know about, except of course insider circles. His big hobby is editing… and re-editing films.
He even happens, in a private capacity – a very important nuance given the legal problems that are sure to arise – to imagine very personal versions of cinema classics. In 2015, he engaged in a remounting of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, 2001 a space odyssey. He also edited a version of Michael Cimino’s cursed masterpiece, Heaven’s Gate, in a 108-minute montage (!) or Hitchcock’s Psycho.
Indy in black & white
In 2014, he directly tackled a new version of the first part of the adventures of Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Yes Yes ! And not just a little. Goodbye to all colors, and make way for black & white. No dialogue. Also gone is the soundtrack by John Williams, in is a soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, taken from Social Network and Millenium: the men who didn’t like women.
On his personal websitehe explained his approach thus, while making it clear that it was “for educational purposes”. The main thing Soderbergh wants is for us to look at Steven Spielberg’s impeccable mastery of shots with fresh eyes.
“See if you can replicate the thought process that led to these choices by asking yourself: Why was each shot – whether short or long – held for this exact length of time and placed in this order?” he writes.
“Sounds like fun, right? At least it does to me. Oh and I removed all the sounds and colors from the film, except for some music designed to help you with your quest simply to study the visual approach to directing.
The result ? We’ll let you be the judge! To view this version, it’s this way !