The man never sleeps. That’s the only logical conclusion when Steven Soderbergh, at 62, is about to unleash his third film in a single year. After the psychological unease of Presence and the shadowy intrigue of Black Bag, he’s shifting gears again—this time with The Christophers, a dark comedy premiering at TIFF this September. The man operates like a cinematic Swiss Army knife, effortlessly switching genres while maintaining that unmistakable, coolly detached Soderbergh vibe.
The premise alone is deliciously twisted: estranged children of a deceased artist hire a forger to finish his work, banking on posthumous hype to cash in. It’s a satire of art, legacy, and greed—topics Soderbergh has flirted with before (Ocean’s Twelve, anyone?)—but this time, with Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel in the mix, the bite could be sharper. The casting is inspired. McKellen, a legend who can oscillate between gravitas and wicked wit, feels tailor-made for this world. Coel, fresh off I May Destroy You, brings a searing unpredictability. And James Corden? Well, even he’s got range when Soderbergh’s behind the camera.
What’s fascinating isn’t just the film itself, but how it exists. Soderbergh shot The Christophers this year—meaning he conceived, filmed, and polished it in the same span most directors spend arguing over trailer cuts. Since un-retiring in 2017, he’s averaged at least one project annually, hopping from HBO (Mosaic) to noir (No Sudden Move) to whatever Presence even was (a haunted house movie? A thriller? Both?). He doesn’t just work; he iterates, treating filmmaking like a perpetual beta test.
TIFF’s lineup this year is stacked—Nia DaCosta’s Hedda, Amenábar’s The Captive—but The Christophers sticks out precisely because it shouldn’t exist yet. Most auteurs would still be recovering from two 2025 releases. Soderbergh? He’s already onto the next one. The film still needs a distributor, but let’s be real: someone’s snapping it up by TIFF’s closing night.
So here’s the real question: Is Soderbergh showing off, or is the rest of Hollywood just slow?
