The Extra Long Life of 'Che'

It seems as if the weight of history weighed them down. All these details, which the film obsesses on, like they were going to be graded by Fidel. The director said he himself was not a true believer, nor was he really interested in the Cuban revolution. He was interested in Che. "He's great movie material," said the director. "Who lived one of most fascinating lives of the last century."

Del Toro mentions that they had enough material to make a seven-hour film, and suggested that upon seeing the movie for the third time, "they'll see things." Del Toro, who served as a producer on the film, said, "The love people felt for this man made me want to get to know more about this man."

Though Soderbergh does not appear to speak Spanish himself, he said, "You can't make a film like this with any credibility if you don't make it in Spanish."

His screenwriter, Peter Buchman, was asked very politely why he decided to forgo the usual dramatic conventions. Soderbergh said, yeah, "why aren't there more movie moments?"

"I quickly learned with Steven that movie moments were a bad idea," Buchman said." We wanted to get at the character of the man in a different way."

Soderbergh said, "I find it hilarious that people say movies are too conventional" and then they criticize him for being unconventional. As for the "nondramatic" tone of the film, what Soderbergh sought was "a sense of what it was like to hang out with this person." This cool guy Che. "And that's it."

"It's all a very elaborate way for us to sell our own T-shirts," said Del Toro. They hope.

Special correspondent Aaron Leitko contributed to this report.