Steven Soderbergh’s latest film, “Contagion,” opens Friday. It’s a thriller about what happens when a deadly virus becomes an epidemic. The film is filled with stars, including Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Laurence Fishburne. But it’s the director’s work on another film, not his own, that’s had Hollywood abuzz the last few weeks. “The Hunger Games,” based on the book of the same name, has been filming in North Carolina. It’s a much-anticipated film. The young adult trilogy by Suzanne Collins is a crossover success, much like the “Harry Potter” and “Twilight” series, read by both children and their parents. The very able Jennifer Lawrence is starring as the main character, one of a dozen children who will fight to the death in an annual event meant to remind citizens of the power of their government in a post-apocalyptic future.
Gary Ross, director of “Pleasantville” and “Seabiscuit,” is helming the film. But he hired a rather better known name as an assistant director in charge of the second unit: Steven Soderbergh.
As soon as the director arrived on set, observers wondered why a filmmaker of his standing would work second unit. Was he brought in to save a failing film? Was he there to take notes for the sequel, whose director hasn’t yet been announced?
None of the above, Soderbergh now says. He set the record straight in an interview with Moviefone.
“Gary — who is a close friend of mine I’ve exchanged creative favors with nonstop over the last 15 years — when he got the boards for the shoot in April called me and said, ‘Hey, first week of August, I got these two days of second unit. Is there any way you can come down and help me out? Because I’d rather have you do it than hire somebody who I don’t know.'”
Soderbergh had just finished “Contagion” but hadn’t yet begun filming his next project, “Magic Mike” — starring Channing Tatum — so he decided to do a friend a favor.
Don’t look for the Soderbergh stamp on the finished film, either. He says his mission was to “duplicate exactly” what Ross and cinematographer Tom Stern were doing with the rest of the movie.
Rumors surrounding “The Hunger Games” isn’t the only misinformation floating around the film world. Numerous plot summaries of “Killer Elite,” an action film opening Sept. 23, have got it wrong — including the one on the movie bible, the Internet Movie Database. “When his mentor (Robert De Niro) is taken captive, a retired member of Britain’s elite Special Air Service (Jason Statham) is forced into action. His mission: kill three assassins dispatched by their cunning leader (Clive Owen),” it reads.
But I’ve seen the film and can tell you that summary — and similar ones posted around the Internet — is wrong. Right now, I can’t let you know what I thought of the film, but moviegoers expecting to see the charming Owen as a villain will be disappointed. Owen and Statham do play a game of cat and mouse, but neither can be called the movie’s bad guy.
As both these stories prove, the Internet can be a great resource for film buffs — but it can almost as easily spread tall tales.
Kelly Jane Torrance is The Washington Examiner movie critic. Her reviews appear weekly and she can be reached at [email protected].
