Before They Were Stars: Steven Soderbergh Directs a Hair Salon Commercial

The recent theatrical release of Steven Soderbergh’s thriller, Side Effects, might signal the end of his directorial career since he has announced his plans to retire from filmmaking. Whether he sticks to his retirement remains to be seen, but you can’t deny that he’s come a long way, especially after you view this commercial he directed for Lockworks Hair Salon in 1985 while working for a production company in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This ad is interesting for numerous reasons as apparently, it was shown exclusively in movie theaters before the main feature. Today, we’re used to seeing a dozen ads shown before the main feature in theaters, but in 1985, that just wasn’t common, so you can almost say Soderbergh helped the pave the way for a very unpopular trend (and damn him if he did!). It’s also worth noting that one of the women in this ad is a young Campbell Brown, who would go on to become an anchor on CNN.