The cast for Steven Soderbergh’s virus outbreak thriller, “Contagion,” penned by Scott Z. Burns (“The Informant!,” “The Bourne Ultimatum”) keeps growing.
Kate Winslet, Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow are all already attached to star and now Laurence Fishburne is in talks to take on what is being described to us as a “major role” if his scheduling can be worked out.
Note, Fishburne’s role is said to be as big as all the other actors announced thus far. Most of them will play an international team of doctors and scientists brought in by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) once the sickness outbreak starts. The vibe of the picture will be “ultra realistic” and apparently many of them will be jumping on planes to assist elsewhere; as we first reported, the film will be played out on four different continents. That might superficially make it sound from the outside like it’s a superstar team ala the “Ocean’s series,” but again the tone will be radically different.
Yesterday, Warner Bros. picked up this $60 million dollar project, but it should be noted there were several good deals offered for “Contagion,” but Soderbergh has a strong relationship with Sue Kroll at WB and feels she is the ideal person to sell this film (Kroll is the President of Worldwide Marketing WB).
Fishburne has been doing a lot of TV work recently (the lead role in “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” which is likely where the scheduling conflict could come into play), but also snagged what is mostly a cameo role in Nimród Antal’s “Predators” film produced by Robert Rodriguez (though it should be a memorable appearance in the picture).
Meanwhile, scheduling doesn’t always work. You’ll remember that Dennis Quaid was supposed to appear in Soderbergh’s “Knockout” as the protagonist, Gina Carano’s father, but instead he’s now in Hawaii on the set of, “Soul Surfer” apparently asking himself, “what am I doing here?”
