Soderbergh, HDNet to get a little 'Girlfriend Experience' (VAR)

By Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte

Following his Che Guevara opus � and �The Informant� with Matt Damon - Steven Soderbergh will next direct "The Girlfriend Experience." The feature focuses on the world of prostitution from the vantage point of a $10,000-a-night call girl, writes Variety.

Brian Koppelman and David Levien, who hatched the project when working with Soderbergh on �Ocean�s Thirteen,� will write the script.

2929 Entertainment partners Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner are financing through their HDNet label. This will be the second film in the six-picture deal they made for Soderbergh to direct low-budget films that get distributed simultaneously in theatrical, on cable TV and on DVD.

Rather than go for star power, Soderbergh may set an adult film actress to play the lead role, says Variety.

Soderbergh will lense "The Informant" with Matt Damon for Warner Bros. before turning to "The Girlfriend Experience," which will be shot over 14 days this fall.

The title refers to a phenomenon in which wealthy men pay not just for the quality of a sexual encounter but also for a woman who will play the role of a perfect girlfriend, explains Variety. Soderbergh, Koppelman and Levien interviewed numerous women and fixed on an interior look at a woman who makes $1 million a year in the business.