INTERVIEW: Steven Soderbergh on Killing Off Leading Lady in CONTAGION
- Details
- Category: Interviews
- Created: Tuesday, 06 September 2011 22:02
- Published: Tuesday, 06 September 2011 22:02
- Written by Fernando Esquivel
Steven Soderbergh has no problem killing off his A-list talent in the action-thriller CONTAGION. The influential filmmaker didn't have to do much convincing some of Hollywood's most in-demand actors to sign up for a small role in the multi-character story.
Structured much like his previous film Traffic, we follow multiple A-list stars Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet and Jude Law, who are living their lives connected to each other by a mysterious deadly virus. When Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns home from a business trip from Hong Kong her husband (Matt Damon) finds her not feeling quite so well. Two days later she's dead and doctors have no idea why. Soon others across the globe start exhibiting the same symptoms and ultimately death.
The idea of CONTAGION came about while screenwriter Scott Z. Burns was working on a scene with Scott Bakula on The Informant. He then called Steven Soderbergh and asked him if he was "interested in doing a pandemic movie but one that is more rooted in reality". Steven immediately took interest in the project. The timing of the film was also perfect with the current outbreak of H1N1 and SARS. These viruses created a great platform for Burns and Soderbergh to feed off from.
With the story written out, how many was too many characters for a film? According to screenwriter Burns, he talked it out with Soderbergh. They knew they needed a character that traces the virus back in time and do the detective work, and that was Marion Cotillard character. They also knew they needed a character which would "be marching in time going forward with the virus" and that became Lawrence Fishburne's character. Then he wanted a proxy of human beings to see how they would experience the virus and that became Gwyneth's and Matt's character. To balance it out and keep it real Soderbergh felt the script needed to add a voice of consciousness which ended up as Jude Law's character. According to Burn's " I guess at that point I thought that's a lot of people."
Soderbergh admits "I was trying to keep it very, very simple". He wanted this ultra-realistic film "to be the simplest movie" he ever made. "The entire film was shot with two lenses". When Steven would look at a scene he would decide how many few shots he needed. "Everything was eye level, no crane shots, no throwing the camera
around. Keep it simple so what you were paying attention to was the performances".
That's why some of his main characters, who could carry a film perfectly well on their own, wanted to be apart of this ensemble even if it meant a few minutes of screen time. Matt Damon was getting ready to do another project when Steven phoned him. He said "I have this other thing and it's happening now. So he sent the script to me with a note that said read this then wash your hands." Matt admits he's more protective then he's ever been. His wife nicknamed him red alert. "I just check on the kids to see if they're breathing. Back in the 90's after the Northridge earthquake I slept with a flash light by my bed for two weeks".
Gwyneth was so invested in her smaller role and took full control of her memorable autopsy scene. According to Soderbergh "Gwyneth is a trooper". They both did a walk through autopsy by a medical examiner who schooled then on cutting into the skull and how to peel the skin over to the front of the face. Soderbergh immediately said "we need to find a flap of something that looks like pizza on one end without the sauce that we can attach some wig hair to". It took Gwyneth about 40 minutes to lay in that position "she was stock still and didn't say a word"; although she did have a bit of help using contact lenses to give her that dead stare.
After dealing with a subject that could leave you paranoid for life, Soderbegh admits that he's "not sure if my behavior has changed but I've become really aware of germs. I'm aware that all of you have touched all of these recorders". He also admits that he had fun screening the film for audiences and watching their reactions as they left the theater. "To watch the lights come up and watch 400 people realize that they're next to a bunch of strangers and that they've touched everything. You can tell that they weren't happy".
CONTAGION is in movie theaters September 9, 2011.