We live in a time where viewing television has become a sloth sport. Put on those loose pants, hit the couch, open up a bag of chips, press play on Netflix, and peel yourself to a vertical position hours later, when your binge-watching is done. However, can Steven Soderbergh‘s experiment to turn a passive experience into an interactive one engage audiences? He’s about to find out with “Mosaic.”
The director’s ambitious show rolls out in its app format today, ready for your thumbs and fingers on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. It’s free, and it will let you fully explore the narrative which will find viewers following famed children’s book author/illustrator Olivia Lake (Sharon Stone) and two men who will soon play important roles in her life: Joel (Garrett Hedlund), a handyman and aspiring artist, and Eric (Frederick Weller), a suitor whose motives may not be genuine. You’ll be able to choose whether or not to roll with Joel’s or Eric’s perspective on the story, and along the way, they’ll meet a number of new characters with their own versions of the story to tell.
It’s clever stuff, and it’ll be interesting to see if tech-savvy viewers latch on it. If you want “Mosaic” delivered in a format you’re more familiar with, it’ll roll out as a miniseries on HBO on January 22nd.
I will watch anything he does. I'm in.
with its straight forwardness. I'll see if things change