Soderbergh's Matt Damon Vehicle “Contagion” Gets Picked Up

Update: Laurence Fishburne in talks to join "Contagion"

Warner Bros. has emerged triumphant from the bidding war for Steve Soderbergh's star-studded new thriller about the outbreak of a deadly virus.

With a cast like Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Marion CotillardJude Law, it was only a matter of time before "Contagion" and its $60 million budget found a home.

A sneeze on the set of "The Informant!" inspired Soderbergh to clear his calendar and make way for the resulting "Contagion," which has attracted the likes of Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Marion Cotillard.

In the new film from a script by "Informant" screenwriter Scott Z. Burns, the "nature of a virus (is) used to deal with 'issues of sovereignty' and as a metaphor for the way 'information and misinformation travel' in contemporary society," The Playlist reported last fall.

The action thriller, which has drawn comparisons to "Bourne Ultimatum" and "Traffic," takes place across four continents and the screenplay is said to be "terrifying."

We're all for watching Jason Bourne chase a deadly virus across porous Middle Eastern borders while senators sipping on Gentleman Jack argue over who has the right to save the world from a deadly outbreak of terrorism some mysterious virus.

The idea for the film came about when Soderbergh and Burns began discussing the nature of germs during  filming of a scene from "Informant" in which Scott Bakula's character sneezes, causing Damon's character to go on a rant about who was going to pay for his illness.

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