Cinema: Soderbergh's Choice

While Erin Brockovich, the fact-based role of a single mom crusading against an energy company, is remarkably short on his stylistic touches ("It was an exercise in control for me," he says), Traffic is pure Soderbergh. Visually eclectic and alternately jarring and sentimental, it jump-cuts energetically among three stories. While Douglas' character juggles his public duties and private anguish at home in Cincinnati, Ohio, Catherine Zeta-Jones stars as a pregnant San Diego housewife who takes charge of the family business when her drug-lord husband is arrested, and Benicio Del Toro plays a Mexican cop lured into a Tijuana drug ring.

Traffic, a $46 million movie based on a British Channel 4 mini-series, bounced between studios after Douglas originally passed as the drug czar and Harrison Ford expressed interest. Although screenwriter Stephen Gaghan rewrote the script to accommodate Ford's concerns (Soderbergh says the character was originally "extremely passive"), the star ultimately opted out. Before Douglas, pleased with the rewrites, came aboard and Traffic landed at USA Films, the project nearly went under. Soderbergh kept it afloat with $100,000 of his own money. "I just felt like this was the time to make this movie," says the director, who had long been interested in drugs' impact on our culture. "It was a year in which politics was interesting to people."

Although directors usually observe the action on a set by watching a video monitor, Soderbergh joined the cinematographers' union so he could work the camera himself. "There's something about the director being right there with the actors," explains Stephen Mirrione, Traffic's editor. "He gets what he needs and can move on." Soderbergh also gave each story a distinct look in order to keep the audience oriented. He shot the Cincinnati and Washington footage in a bleak and bluish color; rendered Mexico grainy, baking in blinding light; and slightly overexposed the San Diego scenes to make the colors soft and blossoming. "All this rot is going on underneath this very pristine surface," explains the director. "It's a nice contrast."

Between now and Feb. 13, when the Academy Award nominations are announced, Soderbergh won't be campaigning more for Traffic than Erin Brockovich, but it seems as if Traffic is the film closer to his art and his heart. Wouldn't a win for Traffic be more gratifying? "I feel very close to both of them," he insists. "There's a word in Louisiana: lagniappe. It means something extra for nothing. All that stuff to me is like lagniappe. You invite me, and I'll show up. If not, I'll be at work." Or playing baseball. "On the set, everybody's got gloves and we throw during lunch," says Soderbergh, who a few years ago thought about returning to his first love by joining an amateur league. "But the guys were taking it way too seriously. I like to have fun."