10 Most Important Directors Of The 21st Century (So Far)

Steven Soderbergh began the 2000s with a triple threat of critically and commercially successful hits, all of which were decidedly different in terms of genre and subject matter. The first was Erin Brockovich, a biographical legal drama which earned Soderbergh a Best Director nomination, followed by crime drama Traffic (which won him the Oscar at the same year’s awards), and Ocean’s Eleven, the hugely influential heist movie reboot.

Although he might have struggled to match the quality of these films in the years since, Soderbergh has consistently chosen to make the films he wants to see made, directing an eclectic mix that includes a classical black and white war film (The Good German), a non-liner meta movie (Full Frontal), two Ocean’s sequels, a sexually charged experimental drama starring an adult film star (The Girlfriend Experience), a movie about male strippers and a biopic of Che Guevara.

It takes a daring filmmaker to gamble their career and name value on such a wide ranging mix of films, and Soderbergh’s willingness to buck trends and subvert expectations, rather than show up for a paycheque, makes him one of the most interesting and enigmatic directors of his time.