High Flying Bird | Netflix

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Steven Soderbergh Reteams with André Holland for NBA Drama ‘High Flying Bird,’ Shooting This Month

No rest for the weary when it comes to Steven Soderbergh’s 2018. In between all of his media consumption, the director’s app-turned-TV show Mosiac is now airing on HBO and in just a few weeks he’ll premiere his iPhone-shot psychological horror film Unsane at Berlinale. Then he’s back to New York City to shoot a new film, and more details on the project have now been revealed.

Set to begin production at the end of the month, the NBA drama High Flying Bird will be led by his break-out star of The Knick, André Holland. It will also mark another reunion for Holland as the script is written by Tarell Alvin McCraney, the Oscar-winning co-writer of Moonlight. While the project was initially revealed last fall, we now know more about the drama thanks to the first logline: “During an NBA lockout, a sports agent, Dean (Holland), presents his rookie client, Erick Scott, with an intriguing and controversial business opportunity.”

Russell Hornsby Joins ‘Creed II’; Melvin Gregg Cast In ‘High Flying Bird’

Actor and digital star Melvin Gregg is set to appear in Steven Soderbergh’s iPhone-shot drama High Flying Bird, written by Oscar-winning Moonlight scribe Tarell Alvin McCraney. André Holland (Moonlight) and Zazie Beetz (Atlanta) star in the film that explores the journey of a rookie basketball player and a controversial business opportunity presented during a lockout.

Steven Soderbergh Wraps André Holland Film ‘High Flying Bird’ and Has First Cut Done Three Hours Later

Steven Soderbergh’s “Unsane” doesn’t open in theaters nationwide until March 23, but he’s already gone ahead and finished production on an entire new feature to be released later this year. The director’s “High Flying Bird” was announced at the beginning of February, with Soderbergh planning a two-week shoot at the end of the month with his “The Knick” star André Holland.

Not only is Soderbergh finished with principle photography, but he already has a first cut of the film locked. The director made the announcement on Twitter with some pretty amazing minor details. Soderbergh wrapped filming on “High Flying Bird” on March 15 at 1:09pm. By 3:41pm on the same day, the director already had a first cut of the drama ready to be seen.

While some may be shocked to hear Soderbergh finished and cut a movie in less than three hours, it’s not too much of a surprise given that he’s such an economical filmmaker. Soderbergh, who shot “Unsane” on an iPhone and most likely did the same with “High Flying Bird,” is an advocate for digital filmmaking since it allows him to shoot and edit simultaneously throughout each day of production.

 

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Netflix Swoops On Global Rights To Steven Soderbergh’s NBA Drama ‘High Flying Bird’ Starring André Holland & Zazie Beetz

In an eye-catching deal, Netflix has bought global rights to Steven Soderbergh’s sports-themed feature High Flying Bird, marking the director’s first collaboration with the streaming giant. The anticipated drama follows a sports agent who pitches a rookie basketball client an intriguing and controversial business proposition. The film reunites Soderbergh with his The Knick star André Holland who also reunites on the movie with Oscar-winning Moonlight writer Tarell Alvin McCraney.. Also starring are Zazie Beetz (Deadpool 2), Melvin Gregg (UnREAL), Sonja Sohn (The Chi), Zachary Quinto (Star Trek: Beyond), Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks) and Bill Duke (Predator). Holland plays the agent, Beetz his right-hand and Gregg the rookie basketball player.

 

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High Flying Bird will launch globally on Friday, February 8, 2019 on Netflix.

 

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[HBarnill]

He’s had so many flops and yet he still gets work. It really pays to have white privilege, huh?

 

[Persona]

This looks great.

 

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Slamdance: Steven Soderbergh Talks Filming 'High Flying Bird' With An iPhone

When was High Flying Bird shot and tell us about shooting it all on an iPhone?

SODERBERGH: It was shot in February and March of 2018, in three weeks. It’s a very small crew and the gear that’s available to enhance this already pretty extraordinary capture-device made it even better. So, if I had to do it in a more traditional way, it would have actually hurt the film. I was able to do things because of the ease of shooting something. You can basically shoot anything you can think of, you can put the lens anywhere you want. If I were in a more traditional mode, there were things that I wouldn’t have been able to execute as well as I’d wanted, because of the size of the equipment and people necessary to move it around. It’s hard not to think, when I was 15 years old what I would be doing with this stuff. I was back in a world of scraping up a few bucks for Super 8 footage, you shoot a little bit, and you have to send it away and wait for weeks for it to come back, and maybe it would look good or maybe it didn’t. The opportunity costs were high if you wanted to do something that looked good, now they are not. You still need to know how to stage something, but it’s a pretty incredible tool.

 

[-JKR-]

He’s had so many flops and yet he still gets work. It really pays to have white privilege, huh?

Oh my God ... really!?!?!?

He's just a great filmmaker. Spike Lee and Kathryn Bigelow have had just as many financial misfires.

People have lost all perspective.

 

[Persona]

As you might expect given the writer, this is like a play about the business of basketball (and the socioeconomic politics around that--and the character of Ray Burke, a great Andre Holland). But a really good play. I want to dock it points for being so blatantly talky, but it works.

I'm pretty amazed by what Soderbergh was able to achieve with a frickin' iPhone. Definitely a step up from how he used it for UNSANE.

Netflix is killing it right now. Kind of perfect that they would release a film that's about playing "the game on top of the game." Because that's what they're starting to do in terms of the movie industry.

 

[Stringer]

I really enjoyed this film. Sorkin level wit with basketball at the center of it.

 

[Lencho01]

I liked it.