Enter the fascinating world of cinema with the show The Directors, a documentary talking about various legendary directors the world has seen since the inception of the art. We’ve seen the story and work of Steven Soderbergh’s last episode, where great works of his like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the Ocean’s Trilogy.
The show has been directed by Ian Nathan, who is also the mind behind the series “Discovering Film.” This series can be regarded as a sister show to The Directors and is a documentary about various film actors Hollywood has seen.
The show features short clips, interviews, and movie footage concerning a specific director. Ryan Mandrake narrates most of the clips and provides context as to what’s seen on screen. The Directors was first seen on July 5th, 2018. Since its inception, it has covered the stories of multiple directors.
Examples of Directors that have been featured are Sergei Eisenstein, Claudia Cardinal, John Carpenter, and Quentin Tarantino. The newest season, which was the 8th installment of the show, has been airing since January 5th, 2023. We’ve seen the story behind James Cameron (Episode 1) and Stephen Soderbergh in season 8.
The Directors: A Look Into Their Lives
Being a documentary, this series offers a representation of what goes on behind glamorous Hollywood curtains. These directors have to work through multiple retakes and scripts to make the actors perform what they truly want.
After working tirelessly on their movies, they can’t help but hope that their movie ends up doing well at the Box Office. Although most of the directors featured on the show have had several great hits to their name, the case has not always been the same.
Only after working on multiple low-grossing films did these directors find their true niche in cinema. Most of them also work on theatre and television series, which have a significantly different approach than movies.
The Directors aim to portray these things, which often remain overshadowed. From backstage interviews to actual clips of them while directing, the series offers an in-depth breakdown of a director’s mind.
The Directors Season 8 Episode 2: Recap
The previous episode, which was aired on January 12th, 2023, featured the story of Stephen Soderbergh. He is known as the director behind all-time hits like Ocean’s trilogy movies, Contagion and Magic Mike. Soderbergh first took an interest in film and cinema when he tried to make a movie using his 8 & 16-mm cameras.
He worked as a freelance movie clip editor, which provided him with much more film knowledge. It was only in the year 1989 that he found work as an actual director for the movie Sex, Lies and Videotape. This ended up gaining much appreciation from critics and led to him winning a Palme d’Or.
The highs are followed by the lows, as after this great debut, Stephen’s next movies just weren’t able to impress critics and audiences alike. Such movies were Kafka, where Soderbergh wasn’t able to capture true Kafkaesqueness. Another movie was King of The Hill, which was well-received by the critics but not by the viewers.
The unlucky streak finally stopped after he released the movie Out Of Sight, with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez as the main characters. He worked on the Movie Ocean’s 11 in 2001 and later on its subsequent parts, all of which had great commercial success.
Stephen Soderbergh’s area of expertise would be Psychological or crime-themed movies. His work seems to be inspired by Avant Garde cinema, making his movies have a distinct atmosphere. Up until now, Stephen has about 14 Academy awards and is married to the screenwriter Jules Asner.
The Directors Season 8 Episode 3: Release Date
The next episode of the Director documentary will be aired on January 19th, 2023. New episodes of The Directors are aired on Thursdays, with a single episode lasting about an hour or more.
The Directors Season 8: Where To Watch?
Episodes of the documentary are streamed on Sky Arts 1 in the United Kingdom at around 4:00 pm EST. New episodes of The Directors, as well as the existing ones, can be availed at Sky’s Website, although they are uploaded a day later at 4:30 am. The show is not available outside of the UK.
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