It seems that each fall Matt Damon has at least two awards contenders in the mix. Last year there was True Grit and Hereafter, with the latter stumbling. This fall he actually has four films hitting theaters. We’ll bypass his voice work in Happy Feet Two and his smaller role in Kenneth Lonergan‘s Margaret to focus on his starring role in Cameron Crowe‘s We Bought a Zoo and his key part in Steven Soderbergh‘s virus thriller Contagion.
We brought you a scan of the above image from the former last week, but now Crowe has provided a hi-res still on his official site. It features Benjamin Mee (Damon) and Kelly Foster (Scarlett Johansson), for the film also starring Thomas Haden Church, Colin Ford, Angus MacFadyen, and John Michael Higgins. We also get the very first impression from a test screening of the film, found on IMDb, followed by an image of Crowe currently mixing the film.
Saw a sneak preview the other night. It was really a terrific film! Matt Damon should be in Oscar talks. The speech he gives at the end of the film is so warm, funny, and inspirational, I almost lost it in the theater. Scarlett is very good, but Damon steals the show. A few of the jokes with the zoo inspector are slightly too childish for my taste, but many laughed in the screening.
The real charm of the film is Cameron Crowe’s writing and directing. He lets the film play out at a perfect speed and his musical choices will knock you to the floor. Just as in Almost Famous, he uses music and his writing to capture every emotional nuance in a scene. Can’t wait to see what the final product looks like in December.
We Bought a Zoo will hit theaters on December 23rd, 2011. We also have a new poster for Contagion, which seems to be made up of previous character posters. Steven Soderbergh’s thriller stars Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Elliott Gould, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, John Hawkes and Jennifer Ehle. Check out the poster below via Yahoo followed by two new TV spots.
Synopsis:
“Contagion” follows the rapid progress of a lethal airborne virus that kills within days. As the fast-moving epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself. At the same time, ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart.
Scripted by Scott Z. Burns, Contagion hits IMAX theaters September 9th, 2011.
Which Damon film are you most looking forward to?