True Detective director takes a shot at Steven Soderbergh

In the world of television, it’s very rare to have a series taken over by a single creative entity, but that’s becoming more and more the case these days. But hit shows like House of Cards and Boardwalk Empire — both of which were developed by David Fincher and Martin Scorsese, respectively — have multiple directors working on the show.

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Two of the best shows from this past year were directed by just one director apiece, and now one of them is jokingly trolling the other one.

In an interview with the Boston Herald, True Detective director Cary Fukunaga jokingly took a swing at Steve Soderbergh for one-upping him with his work on The Knick.

"He pointed to the work of Steven Soderbergh on Cinemax’s “The Knick” as an example of a director establishing a particular template for a new series. “Steve had to go and one-up me with one more episode,” he joked, of the drama’s 10-episode order."

Soderberg may very well find himself nominated for another Emmy award for his work on The Knick, and Fukunaga can at least say he beat him to that punch. Soderbergh is a perfect example of what a director can do with a show if he’s handed the reigns, and the fact that he and Fukunaga both crafted hit high quality shows by being sole directors is more than just a coincidence — and HBO had better take note.