Indie actor John Hawkes has joined the cast of Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming virus thriller “Contagion.” Those unfamiliar with the actor may know him from HBO’s “Deadwood” and “Eastbound & Down,” as the character Lennon on ABC’s “Lost,” or as the romantic male lead in Miranda July’s 2005 picture, “Me and You and Everyone We Know.”
Fans of the actor should also make sure to look out for his intense turn in Deborah Granik’s “Winter’s Bone,” one of our favorite films of the year so far. While it does boast a star-making performance from Jennifer Lawrence, Hawkes is equally riveting in the picture.
Hawkes confirmed his participation in an interview with Movieweb. In a separate interview with the Washington Post, Hawkes gave ironic details about his role in the picture, “[I told the filmmakers] ‘I would sweep the floors for [Soderbergh]. What’s the role?’ And they said ‘Roger the janitor.’ So I will literally be sweeping the floor. It’s a small part but there’s a zillion small parts. It’s one of those with a couple of leads…”
Originally scheduled for a fall 2010 shoot, Hawkes says he “thinks” the picture is shooting next year. That comes on the heels of Jude Law saying the picture will shoot after “Sherlock Holmes 2,” so perhaps the production is eyeing a late fall/ Christmas or early January start.
Very “Traffic”-like in its scope, “Contagion” is an international affair and is set in several countries, so if it’s actually shot on location, it could take a couple of months to complete. The picture also stars Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Laurence Fishburne, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law.
Variety reported on Friday that Fishburne had joined the cast, but we first reported that news in February and then confirmed it when we gave details on Fishburne’s role (Dr. Ellis Cheever, the head of the Centers for Disease Control). The script was penned by Scott Z. Burns (Soderbergh’s “The Informant!,” “The Bourne Ultimatum”) and last we heard earlier this year it was undergoing a page one rewrite, so it could end up being slightly different from the script we read (it’s not a bad idea, the ending was a little anticlimactic).
And believe it or not, “Contagion” will also be shot in 3D, but you can’t call it a bandwagon jumping move; the filmmaker had planned “Cleo” as a 3D film all the way back in 2008. Soderbergh’s next picture, “Haywire” (formerly titled “Knockout”), is due January 2011 via Lionsgate. It boasts the rather impressive cast of Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas, Michael Fassbender, Bill Paxton, Michael Angarano, Matthieu Kassovitz, Antonio Banderas and of course the film’s star, mixed martial arts champion Gina Carano.