HBO has released a brand new trailer for the highly secretiveSteven SoderberghprojectMosaic, along with the announcement that the wholly unique storytelling experience is availablenow. Indeed,Mosaicwas one of the first projects that surfaced as part of Soderbergh coming out of retirement from directing feature films, but we didn’t know much about it. As it turns out, it was kind of hard to explain, and Soderbergh had been working incredibly hard to get this new technology ready to unveil the story to the public.
Mosaicworks like this—it’s technically a miniseries, but the viewer downloads the app and at the end of scenes, has the option of continuing the story by following different points of view. So after a scene withGarrett HedlundandSharon Stone, you’re able to choose to watch what happens next from Hedlund’s point of view, or Stone’s. It’s not “choose your own adventure” because the story is the story—that doesn’t change—but how you see the story play out is up to you. This means that after watchingMosaiconce, you can go back and experience the story in a completely different way, unlocking more clues.
And indeed clues are essential, because as is revealed in this trailer,Mosaicis a murder mystery. Soderbergh crafted the story in conjunction with writerEd Solomon, and I can’t wait to dig into this. Moreover, the thing will be released as a six-part miniseries on HBO in January 2018, so there’s yet another way to experience this story.
For now, you can check out the trailer below and download theMosaicapp for free now for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV with an Android version on deck.Mosaicalso starsFrederick Weller,Beau Bridges,Paul Reubens,Jennifer Ferrin,Devin Ratray,Michael Cerveris,James Ransone,Jeremy Bobb, andMaya Kazan.
Here’s the official synopsis forMosaic:
Three years in the making, the MOSAIC app allows viewers to choose what point-of-view from which to follow the story and to, in effect, build their own experience from the material Soderbergh and Solomon created. The choices one makes build upon one another, enabling multiple tellings of the story from different perspectives and, sometimes, with different conclusions. Viewers will be able to see how their own versions of the story on the app ultimately compare to Soderbergh’s six-part linear narrative in January.
