'Luck' lads snare lair
Clooney builds new house
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Announcement signals the shuttering of Section Eight, the banner Soderbergh and Clooney opened on the Warners lot in early 2000 with an eye toward nurturing offbeat and "message" movies and TV projects. Heslov joined Section Eight almost immediately after its inception, eventually serving as prexy of the company's television arm.
Smoke House has inked a long-term first-look deal with Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Bros. Television. Clooney and Heslov, who collaborated in co-writing and producing "Good Night, and Good Luck," will run the shingle together.
Section Eight's producing deal with Warners doesn't officially run out until later this year. Soderbergh and Section Eight president Jennifer Fox will continue to produce its existing slate, which includes Clooney starrers "Ocean's Thirteen" and "The Good German," both directed by Soderbergh. Section Eight also is producing with Castle Rock the Clooney starrer "Michael Clayton."
It's no surprise that Clooney decided to stay on the Warners lot. Thesp is considered fiercely loyal to Warners, where he's done many of his movies and ran a vanity shingle before Section Eight. Studio's TV division also produced "ER," the skein that made the thesp a household name.
Clooney even borrowed the name for the new venture from the longtime Burbank restaurant across from the lot.Over the course of this year, Soderbergh and Clooney made it clear they wouldn't keep Section Eight going. Soderbergh, in particular, said he wants to focus more on filmmaking and less on the development and producing process.
Clooney also has talked about the rigors of producing vs. acting and directing.
In addition to blockbusters like "Ocean's Eleven" and "Ocean's Twelve," Section Eight produced more specialized product, including features "Syriana" and "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" and TV series "Unscripted" and "K Street."
(Josef Adalian contributed to this report.)
