FILE - This Feb. 15, 2012 file photo shows director, Steven Soderbergh, speaking at the press conference for his film "Haywire," at the Berlin Film Festival in Berlin. Soderbergh says he is taking a sabbatical from Hollywood that could be permanent after he completes his next two films. Soderbergh directed the movie "Magic Mike," which opens June 29, 2012. (AP Photo/dapd, Steffi Loos, File)
June 29, 2012 - 11:11 AM
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The countdown is on for Steven Soderbergh. With "Magic Mike" opening in theatres Friday, the prolific director has just two more films to finish before he plans to "drop off the grid for a while."
The 49-year-old filmmaker says he's taking a sabbatical from Hollywood, and it could be permanent.
He aims to complete his two outstanding pictures — the drama "The Bitter Pill" and the Liberace HBO biopic "Behind the Candelabra" — by his 50th birthday in January. Then he'll turn his creativity toward drawing, painting, photography and collage, he says.
The Oscar winner for directing 2000's "Traffic" says that if he never comes back to movies, he'd "be fine with that."
News from © The Associated Press, 2012