It seems releasing two films (“Presence” and “Black Bag”), wrapping production on another (“The Christophers”), and writing a book on the making of “Jaws” isn’t enough to keep Steven Soderbergh busy. Speaking in a recent interview with Variety, Soderbergh shared that he and “Contagion” screenwriter Scott Z. Burns have discussed putting together a sequel to their 2011 public health thriller, and the subject of microplastics struck a chord.
“There’s certainly a case to be made, especially in the West, for the long-term effects, environmentally, of what we eat, what we breathe. As is well known, we have plastic in our blood now. It’s in our brains,” said Soderbergh. “This is a new thing that’s got to have a pretty serious effect. There’s lots of possibilities.”
“Contagion” features an all-star cast that includes Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Elliott Gould. A relative success critically and financially upon release, the film found new popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but Soderbergh doesn’t want to make an easy cash grab and replay the hits with a sequel.
“It would have to be about something new, but also something that’s plausible,” he said. “Part of the reason people were able to find resonance in that movie when it opened, and then 10 years later when the pandemic happened, was it was rooted in reality. We’ve got to find a new gimmick, but it’s got to be something that people go, ‘Oh, that could happen.’”
Another important aspect to Soderbergh is creating not only something relevant, but something that entertains and does what a movie is supposed to do.
“It would need to be something that’s going on right now that just needs a tiny little shove to turn into a huge thing,” Soderbergh said. “To me, ‘Contagion’ was a horror movie. So the trick would be, can you find something as scary that’s real?”
Soderbergh has been contemplating a “Contagion” follow-up since its newfound popularity in 2020. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times during that time, he shared that for as accurate as the film was in portraying how a pandemic can occur, he was surprised by how many people acted so foolishly when the real thing happened.
“There’s a lot of really fascinating human behavior that we didn’t even think about when we were doing this,” said Soderbergh. “It’s just a reminder of how deeply irrational we are. When we’re put into some sort of fear-threat space, we become deeply illogical. It’s crazy to witness.”
“Black Bag” is currently in theaters from Focus Features.
