The Big Picture No genre captured American cinema in the 1940s quite like the film noir. The genre, which reflected the underbelly of America in the aftermath of World War II, tapped into a suppressed, psychological angst and paranoia surrounding the disruption of an idyllic Americana.
The apex of Gould's traits and abilities as an actor were crystallized in The Long Goodbye, an adaptation of Raymond Chandler's 1953 novel of the same name. The story follows Philip Marlowe , Chandler's signature character, a private eye unknowingly entangled in a string of convoluted plots involving the murder of his friend, Terry Lennox's wife, Terry's debt to a mobster, and a relationship with a dispirited, Ernest Hemingway-inspired novelist, Roger Wade .
Gould expressed at the Q&A that he is still holding out hope for a potential future partnership with Soderbergh. Furthermore, Gould told a story of when Soderbergh approached him on the set of Ocean's Eleven and asked if Marlowe smearing ink on his face while being interrogated by the police in The Long Goodbye was improvised . This presumably left a mark on Gould, as Soderbergh's passion for the film was fervid. For 85-year-old Gould, time is of the essence.
Steven Soderbergh and Elliott Gould Would Be Perfect for the Sequel Gould inquiring about Soderbergh's interest in directing a Long Goodbye sequel was a proper instinct, as the director has proven to be skilled in subversive genre exercises. The film of his that features the most resemblance to Altman's film is The Limey, an L.A. noir about a revenge-fueled British ex-con searching for his daughter's killer.