Fast Read
A copy of Scott Z. Burns‘ Contagion — the basis of Steven Soderbergh‘s forthcoming deadly-virus movie for Warner Bros. — arrived a little while ago. I’ve had a chance to skim through it, and it’s scary, all right. Scary isn’t scary unless it’s believable, and this one is. The tone is urgent and tense. It feels like something in which the creepiness will leak through rather than slap you across the face.
The plot follows “an international team of doctors and scientists brought in by the Center for Disease Control after an outbreak of a deadly virus,” etc. Kate Winslet, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, Gwyneth Paltrow and Laurence Fishburne have been cast. It’s Traffic-y.
The rule-of-thumb in virus movies is that lead or “name” actors don’t get infected — only supporting actors. If a lead actor does get infected (I’ll know more when I read the whole script tonight), it will be an indication of his/her diminished status. Especially given the Warner Bros. input factor. (Corporate money = conventional/boilerplate thinking.) Of the actors above, whose career could be said to be a wee bit saggy or slipping? That’s easy — Jude Law or Gwynneth Paltrow’s. Which means that if conventional thinking applies, one of these two will get sick. And perhaps both. Perhaps Soderbergh wil go against the grain and arrange for Damon or Winslet to get it.
Contagion is supposed to shoot at the end of this year for release in ’11. Burns’ script is 129 pages long plus a sentence and a word.
Jeff, do you ever find yourself not wanting to read a script and still be surprised by a movie now and then? serious question.
Burns’s script for The Informant! was brilliant and should’ve been Oscar-nommed. He’s got some serious writing talent in his bones.
Damn I hope it’s good.
I’m still peeved that H’wood botched their last chance, with the stinkbomb that was “Outbreak”.
(Dustin Hoffman – “Have you seen this monkey?!”)
“The Hot Zone” is the only book I’ve ever read that made me want to vomit. (in a creepy, effective, “holy shit!” way) If I remember, Jodie Foster was involved in a movie of “Hot Zone” until the begged off due to “Outbreak”.
We need a good, tight, scary disease movie, dammit.
Based on the cast, it would appear that this awful virus only seems to attack very attractive people. Whew.
Travis – If IRCC, HOT ZONE was a case of how stars can stop a “go” picture. The script (for those that don’t know, “Crises in the Hot Zone” is a nonfiction book that will make you wet your pants) was tweaked when Foster came onboard, which delayed it some. But then, Redford showed interest and so his 2nd banana role had to be expanded which allowed the OUTBREAK production to get ahead of them.
Apparently, a joke in the nighties went something like “You know what’s one of the best things you can hear about your movie? Robert Redford’s interested. You know what’s one of the worst? Same thing.”
And that’s not the first time a project has been ruined by Redford’s meddling. He’s done that throughout his career.
He’s more interested in how he appears as a move star as opposed to how appears as an actor. He’s never been particularly noteworthy as the latter, so he leans on the former.
The script for The Hot Zone project was called Crises in the Hot Zone, and was really quite good. But Redford wanted to inject more “heroic elements” into his part and that’s why the project stalled.
The original ending of Indecent Proposal was quite different, as well. He didn’t want to appear so callous since his character was already questionable in terms of his ethics, so he insisted that they change then ending. That’s iwhy he has Seymour Cassel boot Demi Moore from the limo as if to appear as though his character believed that love was more important and the he was somehow being selfless. Though, in the original script, Moore falls out of lust for him, leaving him sad and lonely and looking pathetic.
Oh, and wouldn’t it be great if every last one of them died in Contagion? You could do a 30 second T.V. spot set to Saint-Saens Danse Macabre.
Hell, maybe it should end with a smash cut to black when the camera operator (most likely Soderbergh himself) is overcome with the disease, falls to his knee’s and drops the camera onto the pavement below.
Now that would be really ballsy.
The cast and crew have me extremely excited about this project. Good, scary thrillers for adults is hard to find these days. Hopefully they don’t screw this one up. I thought Outbreak had some realistic tension and some very effective scares.
What’s the last word? My guess ‘hope’ or “extinction”. What else could it be?
Reminds me somewhat of HBO’s And The Band Played On … not a bad thing. Shame about Mathew Modine’s career. He was stellar in that. And I believe that was one of Alan Alda’s first slimeball roles.
Yeah, Alda was great in the taking-credit-for-the-Frenchie’s-work Doctor role.
I’ve loved Alan Alda since I first met as a young 6 year old school girl when I was cast in a cameo part in Sweet Liberty.
Paltrow, Damon, and Law? Throw in Blanchett and you have a nice little Talented Mr. Ripley reunion, though I guess Winslet has taken that spot.
What’s Philly Hoffman up to?
@ Deathtongue: Considering Redford acted in only three films in the 90′s (not including The Horse Whisperer, which he directed, and Havana, for good friend Sydney Pollack), that supposed industry joke doesn’t sound very believable
Seems more Warren Beatty (happy birthday, btw) than Redford … that joke, I mean.
Well, no one could ever look sillier in a biocontainment suit than Dustin Hoffman, so this looks good.
“Considering Redford acted in only three films in the 90′s (not including The Horse Whisperer, which he directed, and Havana, for good friend Sydney Pollack), that supposed industry joke doesn’t sound very believable”
Wouldn’t that depend on how many productions he derailed by briefly getting involved with them before ultimately passing? (Which, actually, as far as I understand, isn’t limited at all to him as an actor.)
HORSE WHISPERER POWER.
You have now just jumped the shark, Lex. I know it’s got ScarJo and all, but that movie is AWFUL.
And the same is true for any and every movie ever which is based on any and every Nicholas Sparks novel from here to the end of time.
I was being ironic. It’s super boring and shot through a sheen of pure butterscotch dust. Plus he dumped THE IMMORTAL JOHN BARRY for some forgettable Thomas Newman music.
Johansson AND Kate Bosworth, don’t forget! But both were indeed WAY young in it and needed another year or two in the oven to comment.
Soderbergh should have gone the Starship Troopers way with talentless, good looking, young “actors”. No one will ever guess who buys it next!
In fact a girl, right age range. Is anyone starting to hope Vinessa Shaw is actually Vinessa Shaw posting bitterly because she still hasn’t forgiven the candid stills request back in ’07?
What is “bitter” about any of my posts, Mynamar Shave?
Shit Lex, I didn’t realize that was Kate Bosworth.
And the funny thing is, I should’ve known that. I good portion of that movie was shot on my parent farm in upstate NY.
I’m not going to bother mounting a defense of The Horse Whisperer because I’m going to be in an extremely small minority. But I think it’s a very well-made film (which admittedly could have lost 15 or so minutes), and it’s at least worth noting that it’s not based on a Nicholas SPARKS novel, but a Nicholas Evans novel. The guy’s no Steinbeck, but neither were Mario Puzo or Peter Benchley.
The only other thing I’ll say is this: Robert Richardson, Chris Cooper, Cherry Jones, Diane Weist, and Kristin Scott Thomas.
My God, that’s the best cast ever assembled…for 1999.
At least if the virus makes your hair fall out, Jude Law will be OK. Zing!
I still think the best film to do this ground zero disease thing was “And the Band Played On”. I watched it again last year for the first time since the mid 90′s and damn its riveting. Of course, hindsight has alot to add, but its a gripping exploration.
This looks like it has potential. Soderbergh could use a hit these days. At least something as close as Erin Brockovich and Traffic.
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Jeff, just wondering if you’d had a chance to finish reading the Contagion script. Still as upbeat on it as when you posted this entry? Also, do you know what’s up with the name change of Soderbergh’s Bourne-for-Chicks flick?
Best,
pudge72
Maybe I missed something, but I thought it was godawful. Norton obviously had a lot of fun making it, but every single one of the characters is a very broad caricature and the laughs are so obvious. Will watch again, though, in the future and see if my opinion changes.
It is like a Gucci.
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