iPhone-shot film 'Unsane' by Steven Soderbergh looks insane
A trailer for the psychological thriller shows the gritty consequences of digital stalking.
- Patrick's play The Cowboy is included in the Best American Short Plays 2011-12 anthology. He co-wrote and starred in the short film Baden Krunk that won the Best Wisconsin Short Film award at the Milwaukee Short Film Festival.
Steven Soderbergh has been doing a lot of experiments with films and content lately. Fresh off the heels of his 7-hour interactive thriller "Mosaic," he releases a trailer for his new film "Unsane." Whereas "Mosaic" was created to be watched on an iPhone , "Uncrate" is notable for being filmed with one.
"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," said Soderbergh during an interview with IndieWire at the 2018 Sundance film festival. "That's not part of the conceit."
This isn't the first film to be filmed with an iPhone. The indie film "Tangerine" was shot on iPhones due to budget constraints and Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine") filmed the short "Detour" for Apple on iPhones last year.
"Unsane" stars Claire Foy ("The Crown"), Jay Pharoah ("Saturday Night Live"), Juno Temple ("Atonement") and Amy Irving ("Carrie" and "Traffic"). A woman played by Foy is involuntarily committed to a mental institution after trying to get away from a stalker. The tagline for the film is: "Is she... or isn't she?" implying that her fears may just be a delusion.
Soderbergh reassured that the psychological thriller holds up to being projected 40 feet high and described the image as looking "like velvet." He said that filming with a phone is "the future."
"There's a philosophical obstacle a lot of people have about the size of the capture device. I don't have that problem," said Soderbergh. "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."
"Unsane" will premiere at the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival in February before it is released in theaters on March 23, 2018.
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