Thirty-five years after Steven Soderbergh’s “sex, lies, and videotape” shocked Sundance, the auteur returns with yet another genre-bending and filmmaking boundary-pushing indie film at the 2024 festival.
Soderbergh’s surprise production “Presence,” which was filmed during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike thanks to an interim waiver, follows a family that moves into a house where a supernatural entity also resides.
The “Presence” cast including Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Julia Fox, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, and West Mulholland stopped by the IndieWire Studio at Sundance, presented by Dropbox, to unpack filming the psychological thriller under Soderbergh’s very “specific” style of directing.
“It’s like theater, without the matinee,” Liu told IndieWire’s Christian Blauvelt. “But it is like that eight shows a week kind of thing where you’re there and there’s a setting that you become very comfortable in. In some ways, it’s a weird reality show that you don’t know that you’re in.”
Liu added that the ensemble cast had to be “symbiotic” and “ping pong off” of each other during the short production schedule. “One person satellite-ing off in their own way, it won’t work. It has to be connected and we have to be working off of each others’ energies in order for it to be a successful moment in this movie,” the “Charlie’s Angels” alum said.
As for Soderbergh, Liu continued, “He works very quickly and he knows what he wants. The precision is actually something that helps because you know that you’re working in the right direction. He doesn’t give you a lot verbally so you kind of read the signs physically, what’s happening with all of us. [“Kimi” and “Presence” scribe] David Koepp is such an adept and witty writer that the script was just so tight, and the way that Steven shot it was so specific that it allowed for us to all kind of play in that environment, within a structure. We all learned so much from that.”
“Presence” was film chronologically, with the cast essentially living out their family dynamic.
“Every scene felt so claustrophobic,” actor Mulholland said. “You almost couldn’t escape. The camera was almost breathing down your neck.”
Co-star Maday added, “When you start rolling, you just feel like you’re in a house. There’s not a bunch of screens and everything,” like what’s typical of other productions.
“This Is Us” and Broadway alum Sullivan reflected on how working with Soderbergh embodied a shift in his approach to acting as a whole.
“This project was different than anything else any of us had ever done, because of the way Steven shot it,” Sullivan said. “You have to see this film because nothing has been shot this way before. There was this learning curve as an actor to figure out, ‘OK, this is how Steven is going to live in this space. This is how he’s going to direct this film. How do I coexist with that?’ It’s a very specific method of filmmaking. You had to be ‘on’ the entire time.”
Actress Fox, who reunited with Soderbergh for “Presence” after starring in “No Sudden Move,” credited the director for creating a “comfortable” on set dynamic that led to an “efficient” shoot.
“It’s really easy when you’re working with someone like Steven because he just makes you feel so comfortable that all your preconceived anxieties or whatever kind of just melt away,” Fox said. “His belief in you and his faith in you kind of takes over and suddenly you believe in yourself and he gets the shot in like two takes. He’s one of the most efficient people I’ve ever worked with.”
“Presence” is among IndieWire’s must-see films at the festival. Part family drama, part ghost story, and part haunted house, the film centers around Liang’s character Chloe grasping for connection with the entity.
“I don’t think she actually experienced any terror at all,” Liang said of subverting the genre expectations with her role. “[My character] Chloe is very drawn into this presence, and I think because of how she’s struggles in this family as well, this thing feels more loving and peaceful to her than all the other relationships she’s trying to deal with, so she was never really scared and always was trying to reach out and invite and understand and connect with it more. But the presence was actually, if anything, a little bit scared of me, I’d say. It was fun to play with that.”
Watch the full Sundance Studio interview above to also hear “Uncut Gems” breakout star Fox talking about her love of ghosts.
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival runs January 18 to 28, with festival talks taking place January 19 to 26.
Dropbox supports and champions independent makers, crews, and teams behind the camera who bring their unique perspectives to life at the Sundance Film Festival. We’re proud that over 60% of films at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival leveraged Dropbox in their filmmaking process.It takes a monumental effort for film projects to go from ideation to completion, and Dropbox is dedicated to helping filmmakers get their projects across the finish line faster. Filmmakers used Dropbox as one organized homebase to keep video files secure, to remotely collaborate with teams around the world, and to get real-time video feedback with Dropbox Replay.
