Details have emerged on the plot of Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming virus film Contagion, including who (of the stellar cast) is playing who. The Playlist have got their hands on an early script, and while early comparisons to Outbreak and Traffic are not wildly off-the-mark, the signs are that this an altogether tighter affair, which focuses on current zeitgeists.
Written by Scott Z. Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum, The Informant!), the story starts with three passengers on a flight being struck down with a mystery ailment and follows the virus as it spreads throughout the US, all the while panic spreads throughout the population as a conspiracy-theorist blogger publishes as much disinformation about the disease as he does fact. While this may sound like the groundwork for a globe-trotting virus disaster movie, it is far from it. The story is as much about the spreading of information and it’s repercussions as it is the virus itself, and although the script is expansive with it’s locations (the UK, Brazil, China, Russia and Switzerland are among them), it is keen to focus on the characters and their subplots.
Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) is one of those passengers who first contract the virus, with Matt Damon playing her husband Thomas, who has to care for Beth as her condition worsens. Elsewhere, Laurence Fishburne and Kate Winslet play doctors working for the Center for Disease Control (CDC) who are trying to find a cure, as is Marion Cotillard’s European doctor Leonora Orantes, who works for the World Health Organisation (WHO). Jude Law plays the blogger whose posts are as damaging as the virus.
Swinging punches left, right and centre, the script also takes potshots at everything from government bureaucracy, Homeland Security and pharmaceutical corporations, as they exascerbate the situation. Scripts with such a vast scope can occasionally lose their focus (which Traffic and Babel are more than a little guilty of) however expect this to be a taut affair, with plenty of scenes dripping in dramatic tension for the cast to get their chops into. Burns will also be revisiting the script prior to filming.
Are you looking forward to Contagion? What are your thoughts on the early plot?