‘Mosaic’: Steven Soderbergh Reveals Plot Details About His Mysterious ‘Branching Narrative’ Project at HBO

Now that he’s returned to feature filmmaking, Steven Soderbergh already has his next project in mind. That should come as little surprise given how prolific the “Logan Lucky” director is, but “Mosaic” sounds ambitious even for him. In a new Film Comment interview, Soderbergh calls his mysterious HBO project starring Sharon Stone and Garrett Hedlund a “branching narrative” that will allow viewers to decide which character’s perspective they want to follow.

Sound confusing? Here it is from Soderbergh himself:

“It’s a branching narrative piece. Branching narratives have been around forever, but technology now allows, I hope, for a more elegant, intuitive form of engagement than used to be possible. We spent a lot of time on how you touch this thing. I wanted to make sure that it was beautiful and simple, so that when the opportunity arises for you to decide whose perspective you want to follow, it feels organic and not like an interruption — like the thing is just stopping cold. So there was just a lot trial and error about how that would work. I’m really happy with it now. The question now is if a million people log on at the same time, will it crash? It’s supposed to come out in November.”

Before it airs on HBO, “Mosaic” will first be unveiled as a free app. Despite what it sounds like, however, this isn’t a choose-your-own-adventure story; the narrative itself is set, and all that changes is how you experience it. And though it revolves around a murder, “Mosaic” is “not a murder mystery so much.” We’ll have a clearer sense of it all when, according to Soderbergh, it airs as a six-episode series on HBO next January. Read the full interview here.