Steven Soderbergh's last films before retirement from directing

(AFP PHOTO FRANCOIS GUILLOT)

Director Steven Soderbergh, who won an Oscar for Traffic and was nominated for Erin Brockovich in 2000 and 1989's Sex, Lies and Videotape, has told Deadline that he plans to retire from directing films.

The director has shot blockbusters such as Ocean's Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen with George Clooney, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt, as well as indie films with a political agenda, like The Informant! with Matt Damon and Che: Part One and Part Two with Benicio Del Toro.

With five projects on the director's slate, his retirement won't be happening anytime soon.

Soderbergh's next film is Contagion, to be released September 9 and starring Marion Cotillard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Kate Winslet and Jude Law. The action-thriller centers on the outbreak of a deadly disease.

Another action thriller, Haywire, will be released January 12, 2012, starring Ewan McGregor and Michael Fassbender.

This fall Soderbergh begins production on Magic Mike, starring Channing Tatum ( Dear John) and Alex Pettyfer ( I Am Number Four) as male strippers.

A remake of the 1960s American television spy series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. will star collaborator George Clooney and is set to start shooting in February 2012.

Finally, Soderbergh signed on to direct Liberace, the biopic about the flamboyant pianist, starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon.

"Maybe this turns out to be an extended sabbatical, where I recharge myself, but I need an extended break. I feel like I am out of ideas," Soderbergh expressed to Deadline, adding that when "dealing within the confines of traditional narrative filmmaking, it's hard not to feel like you're in a box after awhile."

RC