Despite an earlier request for parades, Steven Soderbergh recently shot down the pervasive rumors that he’s nearing retirement from the film business, pinning the blame for the story on fatigue, alcohol, and a little 14-year-old girl named Matt Damon. So in order to prove that he’s still busy, Soderbergh seems to be working overtime—releasing the trailers for his films Contagion and Haywire within days of each other, talking up his Channing Tatum male stripper movie, and now, shooting second-unit work on Lionsgate’s adaptation of The Hunger Games, the most compelling casting story of our time. The Playlist first picked up on the rumor of Soderbergh’s involvement via tweets from various excited crew members (who have since deleted their accounts, no doubt at the request of the studio), later confirming that Soderbergh was, yes, once again helping out his old friend Gary Ross—having previously produced the director’s Pleasantville—and picking up his slack during this weekend’s shoot. Cineastes with automatic distaste for young-adult franchises now have grudging reason to see The Hunger Games, if only to voice their appreciation for that one arrow shot that is obviously “signature Soderbergh.”
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