It’s not that unusual for screenwriters to use pseudonyms on projects and Steven Soderbergh has, at different points, used the names Peter Andrews, Mary Ann Bernard, and Sam Lowry for editing and writing. And according to a new report from the Hollywood Reporter Rebecca Blunt could be another one of Soderbergh’s names.
Some sources tell the publication that Blunt is really Soderbergh, which would not be surprising given his past usage of pseudonyms but still annoying considering I like to see real women screenwriters succeed. But others say his wife, Julie Asner, wrote the screenplay. Asner, who was previously an E! personality and wrote the YA novel Whacked, has no experience in film thus far. As of 2008 she was apparently writing a second novel about “murder in Hollywood.”
And then other sources say it’s actually Asner’s former colleague John Henson, who used to host Talk Soup and how has a production company titled Skunk Boy Inc. Steven Soderbergh is co-producing a new film with Henson titled Making Jack Falcone, but Henson didn’t write the screenplay for that.
The stars of the movie reportedly had no idea the name was pseudonym and exchanged emails with Blunt, who they thought she lived in the UK. She also never appeared on set, which is a little odd. The fact that there was no press junket for the movie or a lot of press materials also leaves Blunt’s backstory to be a bit of a mystery.
When asked to comment on the mystery Soderbergh told Entertainment Weekly, “Well, that’s going to be news to Rebecca Blunt,” he said. “When people make a statement like that they should be very careful, especially when it’s a woman screenwriter who is having her first screenplay produced.”
He continued, “Why are you going after her? She’s interviewed in the press kit. I happen to know that she’s working on something and that she’s on a deadline. She doesn’t want to do any press until after the movie opens. Isn’t she allowed to do that?” Well, hopefully this confirms it’s not Soderbergh pretending to be a rising young female writer!
