Steven Soderbergh & Eddie Alcazar On Their “Wild And Weird” Collaboration ‘Divinity’, Mentorship And The Future Of Indie Film
03.11.2023 - 21:33
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: Steven Soderbergh has dedicated more than four decades to shaping his legacy in Hollywood as a director, cinematographer and producer. But instead of splurging on yachts or a home in the South of France, he is investing in the future of independent filmmaking by mentoring directors like Joe and Anthony Russo, Christopher Nolan and most recently Eddie Alcazar. He and Alcazar’s second collaboration (after 2018’s Perfect) is Divinity, which hits theaters nationwide Friday after debuting at the Sundance Film Festival.
The film, set in an otherworldly human existence on a barren planet, follows Sterling Pierce (Scott Bakula), a scientist who has dedicated his life to the quest for immortality, slowly creating the building blocks of a groundbreaking serum known as “Divinity.” Jaxxon Pierce (Stephen Dorff), his son, now controls and manufactures his father’s once-benevolent dream. Society has been entirely perverted by the supremacy of the drug, whose true origins are shrouded in mystery. Two mysterious brothers (Moises Arias and Jason Genao) arrive with a plan to abduct the mogul. With the help of a seductive woman named Nikita (Karrueche Tran), they will be set on a path hurtling toward true immortality.
Bella Thorne also stars in the feature, which is being distributed by Utopia and Sumerian.
Deadline recently spoke with Soderbergh and Alcazar about the “wacky and weird” Divinity, Taylor Swift, the future of the indie film market and more.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
DEADLINE: Steven, at this point in your career you could be doing any myriad of things, but you choose to mentor up-and-coming artists and, in many cases, fund their projects. What is the motivation behind that?
STEVEN