Soderbergh's 'Traffic' speeds up to the multiplex

While some of the new movies this winter take viewers into fantasy worlds of dungeons and dragons and Grinches and Whos, one high-profile film addresses a world that is dauntingly realistic.

"Traffic," directed by Steven Soderbergh, will be released Dec. 27 in Los Angeles and New York and Jan. 12 throughout the country. It consists of intertwining stories about American-Mexican drug trading, revealing the subject's intricacies and intrigue.

"There are interconnected stories, with upstairs and downstairs people involved," said producer Laura Bickford in a telephone interview. "The point of this movie is to show a bigger web, what's it's actually like out there, what it's like for everyone involved. You get a snapshot of everyone together."

While most movies have a single "bad guy," Bickford said that in "Traffic," "the bad guy is the web and not one particular person. It's such an eye-opening and exciting and dramatic way to see how it all works."

Bickford said that "Traffic" — which stars Michael Douglas, Dennis Quaid, Catherine Zeta-Jones and several other big names — is powerful because most people are familiar with some aspect of drugs, but never the entire picture.

"Everybody has been touched by drugs in some way," she said. "You never really see how it all works — how someone doing drugs at a party at Princeton connects to the guy in Mexico growing it."

Bickford said after seeing a mini-series called "Traffic" 10 years ago in London, she became more conscious of America's attention to and knowledge of drugs. Referring to top national newspapers, she said, "They report on cocaine like any other commodity," from its use and cost to its quality after a good rain season. "This secret world — it's not really secret," she said.

Though the topic is quite sensitive, Bickford said the Drug Enforcement Agency and U. S. Customs cooperated with the film's production. "They took the position that it was better to help us than not to help us, to get it as real as possible."

The director decided to cut one scene, in which Michael Douglas' character, Robert Wakefield, experiments with drugs. The film does, however, include a scene in which real drug enforcement agents at a border crossing discuss fictional cartel members. "It feels really real," she said.

Bickford said the movie — which she called "really epic" — is Soderbergh's best. "It's . . . a continuation of things, ideas and themes he's worked on for other movies coming to a perfect point — one of those 'Godfather'-like movies of his career."

Soderbergh's other movies include "Erin Brockovich," "Out of Sight" and "Sex, Lies, and Videotape."

Bickford said "Traffic" tries to present many perspectives on the drug trade. "The film doesn't take a point of view of whether it's good or bad. Some people have a problem with [drugs], and some people don't," she said.