Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Contagion’ Kills Everyone, Even A-Listers

Seeing a big name in a Hollywood suspense movie kind of kills the suspense. Everyone knows that the main character is going to survive because most audiences like happy endings. But Steven Soderbergh plays with that sentiment in his new movie, “Contagion,” by killing off A-list actors early and often.

And how could he not? Soderbergh’s “Contagion” is about a global pandemic that kills millions of people across the world. Which means that no one in his all-star cast, including Matt Damon, Jude Law, and Kate Winslet, is safe.

At the Venice Film Festival, where “Contagion” just premiered, Soderbergh said:

“It’s very helpful to have movie stars playing as many of these roles as you can, because you’re throwing so many characters and so much information at the audience it’s very helpful for them to get a sort of reference point.

“There’s a reason that movie stars have existed since the beginning of cinema. It’s good for audiences. They like to have people they can identify with.”

The movie hops from Hong Kong, to London, to the United States, showing individual people react to the biggest crisis the world has ever faced.

Reuters reports that Damon and Paltrow play an ordinary couple dealing with the crisis, while Marion Cotillard and Laurence Fishburne play health officials trying to stop the pandemic. Jude Law plays a blogger who doesn’t believe the story being told by the government.

According to Soderbergh, “Contagion” was partly based on the 2003 outbreak of SARS and is a very realistic movie.

Soderbergh said:

“All of the science in the film had to be accurate, all of the scenes in which the virus was discussed or shown visually had to be absolutely realistic or plausible.

“Otherwise we felt we weren’t advancing our ideas very well or contributing to this genre very well.”

Here’s the trailer for “Contagion.”

So who do you think is going to die? My bet is for anyone but Matt Damon. I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to kill Jason Bourne.