Steven Soderbergh just edited a film in less time than it takes mere mortals to watch Titanic. The Logan Lucky director announced a new film called High Flying Bird in early February, planning to complete principal photography in two weeks shortly after the announcement. And as you can see from the tweet below, Soderbergh wrapped filming on High Flying Bird on March 15th at 1:09 p.m. The first rough cut was completed by 3:41 p.m. that same day.
Picture wrap on HIGH FLYING BIRD at 1:09pm. First cut complete at 3:41pm. pic.twitter.com/GXIEZICHYg
— Bitchuation (@Bitchuation) March 15, 2018
It may seem surprising that Soderbergh could knock out a first cut so quickly, but as IndieWire points out, he likely shot the film on an iPhone, which allows the filmmaker to seamlessly shoot and edit during the filming process. Soderbergh is a huge fan of digital photography, saying in January that he wouldn’t mind using an iPhone to shoot all of his movies. “People forget, this is a 4k capture,” he said. “I’ve seen it 40 feet tall. It looks like velvet. This is a gamechanger to me.”
High Flying Bird stars the immensely talented André Holland (The Knick, Moonlight). Plot details are being kept under wraps, but we do know that the film is about a sports agent who pitches a rookie basketball client on an intriguing (and controversial) business opportunity during a league lockout. The movie will likely release in 2019.