Steven Soderbergh Is Directing a Documentary on John Lennon’s Final Interview
Steven Soderbergh isn’t one to repeat himself. From Ocean’s Eleven to Contagion to directing films shot entirely on iPhones, the Oscar-winning filmmaker always seems to find a new sandbox to play in.
Now, he's diving into one of the most poignant and haunting moments in pop culture history… the final interview of John Lennon.
Soderbergh is currently working on an untitled documentary centered around the last in-depth conversation Lennon gave, which was recorded on December 8, 1980, just hours before he was murdered outside his New York City home.
The film is already in production and aiming for completion by the end of the year. A distributor has yet to be locked in.
This marks Soderbergh’s return to the documentary form after a long hiatus. His last one, And Everything Is Going Fine, was a portrait of monologist Spalding Gray, and it came out back in 2010.
So what makes this interview so significant? It’s the only radio interview Lennon and Yoko Ono gave around the release of their comeback album Double Fantasy. That afternoon, the RKO Radio team met the couple in their Dakota apartment.
The vibe was intimate, the conversation raw and reflective. Lennon had just turned 40. He was coming off a five-year break from music to raise his son, Sean. There was a real sense of clarity and renewal in his voice, like the beginning of a new chapter.
Just 12 hours later, Lennon was gone. Shot and killed by Mark David Chapman right outside his home.
The weight of that interview is so heavy, especially when you hear Lennon say: “I consider that my work won’t be finished until I’m dead and buried, and I hope that’s a long, long time.”
The Beatles continue to cast a long shadow in film and pop culture. Sam Mendes is already working on a four-part biopic series, one for each band member, and it’s slated to drop in 2028. But Soderbergh’s approach is going to focus on a single moment, a conversation frozen in time, right before the world changed.
Source: Deadline