Now that Steven Soderbergh as dispelled any notions of retiring, the prolific filmmaker already has his follow-up to Logan Lucky on the way, and it could be a game-changer. Shot entirely on an iPhone, Soderbergh revisits the psychological thriller genre after Side Effects with Unsane.
Starring The Crown’s Claire Foy, Unsane might sound like the sort of movie you’d find on Lifetime or late night on Channel 5, but the first trailer reveals a trippy and terrifying thriller. I’ll admit to being sceptical about a master filmmaker such as Soderbergh making a movie on an iPhone; I mistakenly thought it would be gimmicky. Thankfully, the trailer suggests that the use of a much smaller camera has only added to what looks like a hysteria laced nightmare.
In a recent interview with IndieWire, Soderbergh revealed that he might adopt the use of iPhone cameras for all his future projects.
“I’d have to have a pretty good reason not to be thinking about that first… There’s a philosophical obstacle a lot of people have about the size of the capture device. I don’t have that problem. I look at this as potentially one of the most liberating experiences that I’ve ever had as a filmmaker, and that I continue having. The gets that I felt moment to moment were so significant that this is, to me, a new chapter.”
He also was keen to point out that the casual moviegoer wouldn’t be able to tell the film was shot on a phone.
“I think this is the future. Anybody going to see this movie who has no idea of the backstory to the production will have no idea this was shot on the phone. That’s not part of the conceit.People forget this is a 4k capture. I’ve seen it 40 feet tall. It looks like velvet. This is a gamechanger to me.”
The horror genre is the perfect place to test out cost-effective alternatives, and if movie making on iPhones can be adopted by a respected filmmaker like Soderbergh, then that can only be a good thing for the indie world.
Unsane is released in cinemas on March 23, here’s the official synopsis;
A young woman is involuntarily committed to a mental institution where she faces her greatest fear – not knowing if it is real or part of her delusion.
