Above: Bang brothers
Fish (Jack Quaid) and
Sam (Brian Gleeson).
Left: On the circuit
with David Denman
(Moody) and Sebastian
Stan (Dayton White)
Right: Clyde and Mellie
bust out with
vault-blaster Joe.THE TARGE T
If you’ve seen The Hot Rock, Peter ‘Bullitt’ Yates’ 1972 crime caper, you
might guess at how this phase of the heist will play out. In the William
Goldman-written movie, Robert Redford, George Segal and a small band
of half-competent thieves break into a museum to steal a priceless gem,
only to find themselves pursuing the feckless object in and out of
penitentiaries, police stations and bank vaults. It’s a Soderbergh favourite
and a key influence on Logan Lucky (and not just as another of those rare
films to feature people breaking into prisons). “It’s got a very three-cushion
sense of humour,” he explains. “It’s funny because the characters are funny,
the situations are funny. The laughs come at you in a very indirect way, and
that’s what we’re trying to recreate. Hopefully we can generate the same
kind of smile as that movie.”
In the best traditions of a Goldman screenplay, Rebecca Blunt’s script
takes its time introducing its ensemble (look out, too, for Seth MacFarlane’s
obnoxious British energy-drink magnate, Max Chilblain, and Hilary Swank
as an uptight Fed), before cranking up the tempo — and the stakes — for the
climactic race-day heist. Nailing the characters, stresses Soderbergh, is the
essence of any heist worth its vault. “It’s something the Ocean’s films really
concentrated on, and we’re doing that here,” he says. “People get hung up on
the technical aspects of the job itself, but I think it’s the characters and their
relationships that audiences take away from the film.” Soderbergh’s posse
aren’t just Cletus-like rednecks on the make or dumbed-down Danny Oceans.
They’re likeable, real and smart in their own way. “Danny Ocean will always
be a criminal,” says Tatum, “but I don’t think that’s Jimmy Logan. He’s just
seen an opportunity and jumped on it.” It may not be Ocean-sized, but this
score could make all the difference for the Logan clan.
THE JOB
If anything, Soderbergh’s small-screen sojourn has sharpened his
moviemaking edge. He shot faster than ever, packing a state-hopping shoot
into 36 blistering days. “It was only possible because I’d been through the mill
on The Knick and Mosaic,” he points out. “The first Ocean’s movie was
80 days. The scale was bigger, but we were moving very, very fast [on this].”
At times, even the actors were breathless. “Steven shoots so fast, you only get
one or two tries,” says Driver. “It’s very complicated stuff.” Soderbergh mixed
up his toolkit too, dispensing with the zoom lens so integral to Ocean’s style.
“It’s a glossy piece of equipment that didn’t apply here,” he explains.
Capturing the heist’s NASCAR backdrop tested his ingenuity further.
To do it, he set up five cameras around the racetrack as 2016’s Coca-Cola
600 unfolded, filming for five hours. “I’d mapped out where each camera
would be at a given time,” he explains, “and people would send me images
of what they were shooting via iPhone.” Under a sky smudged by the
distant tropical storm Bonnie, he filled Logan Lucky with 320km/h blurs,
89,000 fanatical fans, and all the deafening buzz of American stock-car
racing. No-one even knew they had an Oscar-winning filmmaker in their
midst. “The event is so massive, we were like an ant on an anthill,” he says.
Much to Soderbergh’s relief, the script only required him to keep the race
in the background. “I was thankful [for that],” he confesses. “I watched Days
Of Thunder and I didn’t want to go head-to-head with Tony Scott. That guy
was a real shooter.” Eagle-eyed petrolheads will have to content themselves
with cameos from racing heroes like Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Kyle
Larson, though none are actual NASCAR drivers. Ryan Blaney, a 23-year-
old rising star of the sport, pops up as a birthday-cake deliveryman. “When
I watch a race now, I’m pulling for Ryan,” says Soderbergh.