Hollywood
Matt Damon Isn't Surprised By COVID-19 Pandemic - The Film Contagion Prepared Him For It
By Todd Malm
May 13, 2020 7:32 PM
Source: TravelandLeisure.com
Matt Damon isn’t shocked by the coronavirus pandemic at all, and as it turns out, a big part of the reason why is because he prepared for it mentally during the filming of Contagion, starring himself, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, and Kate Winslet.
During a conversation with SPIN 1038’s Fully Charged, Matt Damon claimed it was unwise to suggest that one couldn’t have predicted a worldwide pandemic such as COVID-19. He claimed all one has to do is look back at the movie, Contagion.
Damon said he spoke with experts on the set of the film and many of them discussed what would happen today. The Bourne Identity actor, whose step-daughter recently contracted COVID-19, claims he has been talking with Scott Z. Burns ever since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Scott Burns was the screenwriter on Contagion. This wouldn’t be the first time the movie has been mentioned since the pandemic began either. Gwyneth Paltrow, when she was flying to Europe ahead of Paris Fashion Week in February said she already saw how a virus played out in Contagion.
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Paltrow joked that she had already “been in this movie” before while posting a picture of herself wearing a mask. Fans of the actress know that she starred as patient zero in the film.
In case you missed the 2011 flick, Paltrow’s character contracts the virus after she shakes hands with the chef who handled a slaughtered pig who came into contact with an infected bat. As it was previously reported, COVID-19 first started appearing in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Rumor has it that it originated in a wet market for selling wildlife to human beings for eating. Thus far, Wuhan has been at the center of the virus controversy, with many speculating COVID-19 may have been created in a government lab.
These rumors are, of course, unsubstantiated and mostly speculation. Regardless, Contagion was a poignant take on the potential of a pandemic and how quickly and easily a virus would take ahold of the world and cause widespread panic and economic distress.