Success Quote by Steven Soderbergh

Comfort with failure is an odd brag in an industry built on premieres, box office tallies, and the weekly bloodsport of “hot” or “washed.” Coming from Steven Soderbergh, it lands less like self-pity than like a director quietly declaring independence from the audience’s need to be pleased on schedule. The line is a shield and a dare: if you want a reliable brand, look elsewhere.

Soderbergh’s career makes the subtext legible. He’s moved between glossy crowd-pleasers (Ocean’s) and chilly experiments, between studio machinery and DIY workflows, between theatrical releases and streaming, even “retiring” and returning as if the whole notion of a career arc is negotiable. In that context, “failure” isn’t just a bad weekend gross; it’s the willingness to make work that some portion of your fanbase will feel personally denied by. “Being the guy who disappoints people” names a specific kind of pressure in filmmaking: audiences and financiers don’t merely buy a movie, they buy the promise that you will keep delivering the version of yourself they already liked.

The intent reads as a refusal to be managed by that promise. It’s also a strategy for staying prolific. If you accept that some projects will misfire, you can keep moving, keep learning, keep taking formal risks without needing every film to validate your identity. There’s something bracingly adult here: disappointment isn’t a crisis; it’s the cost of making choices. And in Soderbergh’s case, choice is the point.