Superhero movies have been well-known to be produced with the idea that children and their parents are the majority audience. Recent Marvel and DC movies have been leaning into the idea that some of their movies can cover more adult-themed subjects that barely go into the realm of PG-13. And then there are some that straight jump into rated “R” like Watchmen, Blade, Joker, and James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. However, Steven Soderbergh is wondering why there isn’t any sex scene in these superhero movies.
Soderbergh has been a huge player in the Hollywood industry since the late 1980s indie movement. The director has put together some great films in his early years and continues to do so to this day.
Recently during an interview with The Daily Beast, the prolific director pointed out an observation–that no one asked for–that led to an issue he has with recent comic book movies – nobody’s f**king.
There have been several plotlines in various superhero films that feature romantic relationships. The sex part of these plots isn’t necessarily important – but Steven Soderbergh doesn’t see it like that.
“For me to understand the world and how to write or supervise the writing of the story and the characters—apart from the fact that I can bend time and defy gravity and shoot beams out of my fingers–there’s no f**king,” Soderbergh stated. The director continues, “Nobody’s f**king! Like, I don’t know how to tell people how to behave in a world in which that is not a thing.”
Honestly, I’m not really bothered by this comment from one of my favorite directors. It’s become a standard practice for film news sites to ask veteran directors their opinion on comic book-based movies – and film twitter goes into madness no matter what the filmmakers say.
Soderbergh had more to add:
“It really becomes about what universe you occupy as a storyteller. I’m just too earthbound to really release myself to a universe in which Newtonian physics don’t exist [laughs]. I just have a lack of imagination in that regard, which is why the one foray I had into pure science-fiction [2002’s Solaris] was essentially a character drama that happened to be set on a spaceship.”
Let’s keep in mind that Soderbergh’s recent movie, Kimi, is due out on HBO Max this week – and this could be a good way to bring some attention to that film.