In one hell of a twist, the screenwriter behindLogan Lucky—the film that brought filmmakerSteven Soderberghout of retirement—apparently doesn’t exist. WhenLogan Luckywas announced, it boasted the first-time feature from new screenwriterRebecca Blunt. The film is basically a twist on Soderbergh’sOcean’s Eleven; a heist movie set in the world of NASCAR instead of high-stakes gambling. But as the movie’s release date looms closer and everyone’s been looking into this Rebecca Blunt, it’s become clear that Blunt may not actually be a real person.
Multiple sources tellTHRthat Rebecca Blunt doesn’t actually exist, but the writer’s true identity is still a bit of a mystery. Apparently the rouse was so carefully thought out that even the actors in the film had no idea it was written under a pseudonym, with some even exchanging emails with Blunt who they were told lives in the U.K.
So who did writeLogan Lucky? One source tells THR it was Soderbergh’s wife,Jules Asner. Asner is a longtime E! host but hasn’t written any screenplays before—although she did pen a 2008 novel calledWhacked. But another source says that Soderbergh himself wrote the script, which would be his first screenplay for a movie he directed since 2002’sSolaris. Soderbergh has served as his own cinematographer and editor under the pseudonymsPeter AndrewsandMary Ann Bernard, respectively, in the past, so this wouldn’t be a shock.
[Update:The Playlist, who is almost always right when it comes to matters relating to Soderbergh orDavid Fincher, is now reporting the Jules Asner was indeed the screenwriter ofLogan Luckyand was actually on set every day. They say she wanted to keep her name off the movie so as not to distract from Soderbergh’s new distribution model via his own Fingerprint Releasing banner.]
What’s funny is that Soderbergh gave a lengthy interview toEWwhere he claimed he was given the script by a friend:
“I was given the script through a friend and asked if I would recommend some possible directors. Not unlike Bud Selig when he was charged with finding a commissioner for Major League Baseball, I thought that I was the right person to direct this film, and the search was stopping. I really couldn’t bear the thought of somebody else getting to do it. Now, that happened to coincide with some ideas that I’d had regarding distribution, and the timing seemed right. It was a movie that I very much wanted to make and also the opportunity to experiment with this new model was becoming possible, so I decided to pull the trigger.”
If Asner actually wroteLogan Lucky, one imagines Soderbergh found this pretty hilarious. And you know what? It is. You do you, Soderbergh.
Logan Luckycontinues to look amazing and opens in theaters on August 18th.
