With the release of director Steven Soderbergh’s next two movies Contagion and Haywire drawing closer, the reality of his possible retirement is starting to set in. A lot of people in Hollywood have claimed that they were going to retire without following through, but Soderbergh still seems steadfast in his plan to stop making feature films within the next two years (once his Liberace biopic and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. adaptation have been completed). Still, it appears that he has a few other surprises up his sleeve, and in an unexpected twist, The Playlist has learned this week that Soderbergh has recently been spotted on the set of The Hunger Games. It turns out that Soderbergh has now become the second unit director on the film. Does this mean we should be excited?

The Hunger Games, for those who have not been keeping up, is the next big movie franchise to be based on a best-selling series of books for young adults. Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit) is directing the first film, and apparently he has been good friends with Soderbergh for years (Soderbergh was a producer on Pleasantville). So he asked Soderbergh to come on board and help out by shooting some second unit stuff.

It’s a bit of a mystery why Soderbergh would be interested in doing something like this at at time when he seems completely burnt out on the movie industry. Obviously he’s doing a favour for a friend, but perhaps there was some draw to working without the added pressure of being in charge of the whole operation too. The more intriguing question is whether or not his involvement will enhance the final product in any noticeable way — at the very least, it has certainly added some film geek credibility to the film. What do you think, does this news make you more interested in seeing The Hunger Games?