With the lackluster summer movie season ending, here comes a flick that is gaining plenty of interest as it hits theaters.
Director Steven Soderbergh’s “Contagion” premieres Friday, stirring up some buzz and prompting people to wonder what would happen if a lethal virus actually spread around the world.
The movie also has something else moviegoers are interested in: Movie stars.
Soderbergh brings together a star-studded cast that includes: Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, and Gwyneth Paltrow.
“Contagion” follows a fast-moving lethal airborne virus that kills within days, causing a global pandemic. The virus starts off innocently enough as people start to cough and catch a fever. The virus rapidly progresses and the sick start experiencing seizures, brain hemorrhages and then, of course, death.
With the entire world panicking, medical professionals across the globe bring together their expensive medical degrees and work together to try to find a cure to fight off this deadly virus.
In the movie, Matt Damon’s wife, who is played by Gwyneth Paltrow, is killed by the lethal virus.
Why did this busy actor decide to star in the film?
“I read it and I was like, ‘I really want to be in this movie,’ Damon said in a recent interview. “You know, it’s just a terrific, riveting, fast read. And really exciting, and really horrifying. But it managed to be kind of touching too.”
Movie reviewers were generous, giving “Contagion” an 80 percent rating, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
“The film’s most chilling images are not of the frothing, twitching infected, but of a civilization slowly disintegrating,” reads the review by NPR.
“Contagion” “is guaranteed to have you reaching for the Purell and bristling at uncovered coughs. It could become an instructional tool for emergency responders,” said the Toronto Star.
