Steven Soderbergh’s virus-outbreak action-thriller “Contagion” looks to be going from A-list casting to well, more A-list casting.
After the Scott Z. Burns script was recently prioritized over all other Soderbergh projects (“Liberace” for one), the film is evidently attracting major interest at the European Film Market as “several bidders have offered greenlight commitments.” A $60 million budget is already being mentioned.
The stellar cast for the pic already features the likes of Kate Winslet, Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard and Jude Law but now, on top of that, Deadline are casually reporting that Gwyneth Paltrow is also set to join, pushing the line up almost to the ‘Ocean’s’ films’ level in terms of both name and size. DH say they “hear” Paltrow is involved, but throw it in their pretty offhand. We haven’t confirmed this yet ourselves, but we don’t doubt it.. Update: Our sources tell us Paltrow is officially now part of the cast.
Burns’ script is a multi-stranded story taking place over four continents and centering on the outbreak of a deadly virus, an idea that originated from discussions between Burns and Soderbergh during production of “The Informant!” that catalyzed after an on-set sneeze.
Production is slated to begin this fall before Soderbergh moves onto his “Liberace” biopic starring Michael Douglas and Damon.
