The Christophers director Steven Soderbergh: ‘The fear of every creative person is becoming irrelevant’

Steven Soderbergh works fast. The director of Erin Brockovich, Ocean’s Eleven, Contagion, and Magic Mike has spent his career honing his filmmaking process to a fine point, cutting out as much waste and dysfunction as possible. The shoots are short, all extraneous material is combed out of the script, and Soderbergh assumes the roles of cinematographer and editor.

When I May Destroy You creator Michaela Coel received an offer to star in The Christophers, an arch, acerbic two-hander about a reclusive London artist, she asked her agent about Soderbergh’s reputation as a director. Soderbergh was amused by the reply.

“The agent said, ‘One or two takes, no feedback.’ I just laughed. That’s what they said?!” Soderbergh tells Big Issue. “It could have been worse. You can’t get much briefer than that in describing my process.”

Get the latest news and insight into how the Big Issue magazine is made by signing up for the Inside Big Issue newsletter

In The Christophers, Coel plays Lori, a skilled, principled artist who is disillusioned with the art world. She’s approached by an old classmate (Jessica Gunning) and her brother (James Corden) with a unique, and criminal, opportunity: their father is Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen), an irritable, no-filter maestro painter who has sworn off his art and is now squirrelled away in his chaotic and cloistered Fitzroy Square townhouse.

Lori’s task is simple: become Julian’s assistant, find where he’s stashed his famous unfinished portrait series ‘The Christophers’, and ‘finish’ (ie forge) the incomplete ones to be discovered after his death, thus earning millions for Julian’s useless offspring. But Lori has history with Julian, and her proximity with the cantankerous artist exposes their collective concealed wounds. As Soderbergh puts it, “The real fear of every creative person is becoming irrelevant.”

Even though the film was directed and written by Americans (the script comes from Bill & Ted co-creator Ed Solomon), according to McKellen, the British setting was necessary. “He felt these characters had to be Londoners,” Soderbergh says. “There’s a specific kind of person within the art world that existed in London in the ’60s and ’70s. Lori’s whole upbringing was influenced by that.”

Read more:

• Sir Ian McKellen: ‘They better be quick if they want me to play Gandalf again!’
• Gavin & Stacey stars Ruth Jones and James Corden on creating a beloved British classic
• How art helps us make sense of an uncertain world

This is Soderbergh’s third London film in three years, following Magic Mike’s Last Dance and spy thriller Black Bag. This loose London trilogy captures the contradictions about life in the city: it’s glamorous, but hard work; sleek, but paranoid; and, successful or not, all artists will grow bitter. This is certainly the case for Lori and Julian – the younger, unproven painter resents the elderly master for throwing his success away. A key concern in the art world is authenticity, and Lori believes there’s more to Julian’s cynicism than meets the eye. 

“As [Lori] says at one point, it’s an extreme form of control. You can’t fire me, I quit,” says Soderbergh. “That’s a legit position to take, but it’s kind of a cul-de-sac, and I have to believe that he misses it. Whether he misses the attention and adulation or the act of creating itself is debatable.”

Coel is a steely foil to McKellen’s deliciously cranky and cynical performance, and as the pair mosey through Julian’s ramshackle multi-storey townhouse, his true eccentricities shine through the junk littering every available surface. 

“These are the lairs of very obsessive people,” says Soderbergh. For research, the director, and production designer Antonia Lowe visited artists’ studios and tried to replicate their “cocoon-like” feel. Lowe’s set design was a hit with the actors, as McKellen was reportedly delighted to spend so much time in Julian’s “cave”.

Even though the director knew McKellen was perfect for the part, the pair had never worked together – but after seeing the film, it’s hard to imagine a different actor in the role. Still, Soderbergh insists that there’s little in common between the fictional and real national treasures.

“In some core way, he’s not like Julian at all,” says the director. “I really never looked at the material and thought, “That’s Ian.” Even though, superficially, people would say, ‘What a great opportunity for Ian to play a variation on himself,’ I didn’t get that at all.”

It’s a relief to hear; as entertaining as Julian’s barbs and insults can be, he’s a nasty piece of work. Still, Soderbergh is sympathetic to Julian sabotaging his own legacy, as a decade ago, the director chose early retirement, only to un-retire a few years later. He says, “I understand the conflating of a frustration with the way the business works with the act of creation. 

“That’s what I had done, I had gotten so frustrated with the way the business works that I decided, I’ve just got to separate myself. Then, through a series of circumstances that led me back to work, I realised I love this job, the business just makes me insane.

“I’ve got to figure out ways to change the game somehow so that my frustration isn’t eating up so much psychic real estate.”

The Christophers is in cinemas from 15 May

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

Change a vendor’s life.

Buy from your local Big Issue vendor every week – and always take the magazine. It’s how vendors earn with dignity and move forward.

You can also support online:
Subscribe to the magazine or support our work with a monthly gift. Your support helps vendors earn, learn and thrive while strengthening our frontline services.

Thank you for standing with Big Issue vendors.