My coverage of "Contagion"

A movie that will make you jump for cover By Raymond de Asis Lo, L.A. Correspondent (The Philippine Star) Updated September 10, 2011 12:00 AM Comments (0)

Contagion director Steven Soderbergh (right) with Matt Damon, who’s part of the film’s powerhouse ensemble cast.
| Zoom

MANILA, Philippines - Midway through the press screening of Warner Bros.’ new movie Contagion, Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh’s taut and intense thriller about an unknown virus that’s spiraling out of control, the lady sitting next to me suddenly coughed and my instant reaction was rather embarrassing: I nearly jumped in surprise then I cautiously moved away from her afterwards.

Such was the power of Contagion that moviegoers are definitely going to step out of the cinemas more aware of how diseases are formed and how quickly and easily they can be transmitted — and the only hope of the filmmakers is that people don’t react in the way that this writer reacted.

“There was a responsibility in taking a subject matter like this — to do it realistically,” Steven said during the Los Angeles junket for the movie last week. The director indicated that what he hoped to achieve was for moviegoers to not just gain awareness of the possibilities of another global pandemic (similar to the havoc brought by SARS several years ago and H1N1 a couple of years ago) but be mindful of how to react responsibly and rationally should a scenario similar to what was depicted in the movie occurs in real-life. “If all you get out of it was that, when this happens, you don’t immediately panic; that you count to 11 before you do something stupid, then that would be great.”

“I was aware of the difference between a subject matter like this and something like Traffic,” he added, referring to his landmark film on illegal drugs that won four Oscars in 2000. And he wants to set off the same conversation on the potential threats of diseases in Contagion that Traffic did on drugs. “When you start talking about drugs, there’s an immediate political aspect to it because some people have very strong feelings about drugs in both directions. So right out of the gate, you are polarizing the audience potentially.”

The film stars Oscar Best Actress winners, including Gwyneth Paltrow

But just because the movie is about a deadly virus, it doesn’t mean that the movie lacks the social and political commentary that Steven regularly hints in his movies. “You can avoid drugs but you can’t avoid germs,” he quipped when asked about it. “There was certainly an idea at the back of our minds that this movie could do for elevator buttons what Jaws did for the beach.”

If you find yourself not immediately shaking hands with other people after seeing the movie, then the movie did its part — but moviegoers need to remind themselves that events presented in the movie, though based on intensive research, constitute one big “what if” scenario — a plausible scenario, that is.

Contagion begins with a seemingly routine medical situation: An international traveler, exhibiting flu-like symptoms, reaches into a snack bowl at an airport. She hands her credit card to a waiter before boarding her plane. She gets home, signs something then hands the pen to her chauffeur, and she dies the next day. Soon, others start to exhibit the same mysterious symptoms then, like her, they all quickly die.

The origin of the outbreak is so simple that it will be totally understandable for people to really get scared — and be a little bit paranoid. Matt Damon, who portrays one of the central characters in the movie, shared that when he received a copy of the script, there was a note attached to it that read: “Read this and then go wash your hands.”

But Matt, who lives in New York City with his family, said that being exposed to germs is not entirely a bad thing. “Definitely, we do a lot of hand washing. When kids come back from the park we wash our hands but on a day-to-day basis, germs is a good thing and I want my kids to build their immunity.” The actor, whose head was completely bald during our interview, portrays a man whose wife and son fall victim to the disease.

In addition to Matt, the director also tapped an array of award-winning actors and actresses to portray essential characters in the movie. The stellar cast includes Oscar Best Actress winners Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet and Marion Cotillard. Oscar nominees Laurence Fishburne and Jude Law are also in the cast together with Emmy-winner Bryan Cranston and Tony-winner Jennifer Ehle who was still reeling from excitement at being in the same movie with such a formidable ensemble of Hollywood superstars.

“It was amazing!” the British actress exclaimed. She revealed that she was so honored to be in the movie only to be cut short by Matt who teasingly added, “You are honored to be in a movie with me, I know, I know.” Matt’s unexpected attempt at humor was met with laughter in the room.

“I was so honored to be asked to be a part of it,” Jennifer continued after recovering from Matt’s playful antic. “I assumed that she (her character in the movie) would be cut because people are usually not fascinated with the science in the movie and I also assumed that there would be no time for the story of somebody who wasn’t one of the stellar members of the cast,” she humbly stated.

Jennifer most recently appeared in last year’s Oscar Best Picture winner The King’s Speech. She’s a two-time Tony winner and was a BAFTA award recipient for her performance as Elizabeth Bennet in the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice. She portrays one of the crucial epidemiology experts in Contagion.

Matt’s jokes and Jennifer’s earnestness are what saved the 40-minute cast interview from turning into a monotonous Q&A on the specifics of the disease highlighted in the movie, the relationship of the movie to real events that took place in Mexico during last year’s H1N1 scare, and whether the cast had altered anything in the way they interact with people after doing this movie.

Oscar-nominee Laurence Fishburne, who was also at the junket, disclosed that he didn’t do anything different after doing the movie. “I’d take a flu shot but other than that, I am not really that much different from most people who’d go and say, ‘Oh yeah, there’s something going around? I hope I don’t get it.’”

Matt, Jennifer and Laurence were the only cast members present at the junket but the bigger celebrity at the event was the film’s director, Steven, who is considered as one of the finest American directors working today.
Sometime last year, reports surfaced that Steven was retiring from making movies and the source of the story was no less than Matt himself. Interestingly, that story spread just like a contagious disease and left many film fans disappointed. At the junket, Matt and Steven decided to set the record straight: Both were drunk when said quote was uttered.

“You know, I was really drunk and so was Matt and I thought that there’s this sort of tacit agreement that exists in most advanced societies that, when you are both drunk, your conversation won’t be in USA Today,” Steven lightheartedly explained how the erroneous story started. “Clearly, Matt didn’t share that philosophy and is about as discreet as a 14-year-old girl.”

Matt, all red, but still laughing very hard, responded by saying, “Yeah, yeah, perhaps I shouldn’t have been so liberal with my spreading of that information.” He also added that he now ”acknowledge that things said in that state will be kept in confidence in the future.”

Contagion, hailed by many critics as one of the best movies of the year, is now showing in theaters nationwide.

My interview with Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz

Justin & Cameron: No more awkward moments By Raymond de Asis Lo, L.A. Correspondent (The Philippine Star) Updated August 29, 2011 12:00 AM

Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake: We are great friends| Zoom

“Nah, we kinda know everything about each other!” Justin Timberlake quickly replied when asked if he and former girlfriend Cameron Diaz still found anything interesting and surprising about each other while doing Bad Teacher, Sony Pictures’ hit new comedy that’s set to open in the Philippines on Aug. 31.

The two stars met with this writer a couple of months ago during the LA junket for the movie. They were paired at the roundtable so when one asks Cameron a question, Justin would chime in and playfully answer the question himself. Cameron would likewise do the same during our freewheeling 20-minute interview with the two of the prettiest actors in Hollywood today.

“We are great friends. We knew we’d have fun together in this movie,” Justin continued but not after throwing in a number of funny stories and jokes.

“Yeah, nothing surprised me,” Cameron chimed in later after Justin finally quieted down. “I knew that he would do the job that he did so well because I know how funny he is and what he is capable and how talented he is.”

Although both stars were thrilled when they learned that they were going to make a movie together, there were apprehensive in the beginning on how the media will try to play up their pairing. “We knew that everybody would probably immediately make it into something that it wasn’t and we thought for a second, ëShould we not do it because of that?’” Cameron related. “We are adults. We know where we stand. We know what our relationship is and that’s all we need to know. They can say whatever they want to say as long as we can keep it out so that we can do our work because we didn’t want it to hurt the film.”

“It was a benefit that we knew each other and that we were friends,” Justin added. “I think that it takes a lot of chemistry to get on in film than not having any.” The actor was referring to one uproarious scene in the movie where he and Cameron engaged in what can only be described as the most innocuous sex scene in an R-rated film this year. “If it was anybody other than him, it would have been a totally awkward situation,” Cameron butted in. “We know where we stand. I didn’t have to worry about what lines were being crossed because we already knew what the lines were.”

In that particular scene, it is safe to say that Justin and Cameron sure make a very good couple on screen. They are so comfortable with each other that, at some point during the interview, Cameron even joked about a nonexistent rumor of Justin apparently being in the closet.

In Bad Teacher, Cameron plays Elizabeth Halsey, a, well, bad teacher whose main preoccupation is not to teach but to hang around singles bars every night in search of the rich guy who will marry her and make her instantly rich. Justin plays Scott, the quirky but wealthy and handsome new substitute teacher who becomes Elizabeth’s target towards the good life. Unfortunately, Elizabeth has to contend with a competitive co-teacher (played with absolute delight by talented British newcomer Lucy Punch) and a homely and middle-class P.E. instructor who is not so subtle in his admiration for her.

The ex-sweethearts in a scene from the film Bad Teacher

“Elizabeth really wasn’t a teacher,” Cameron explained. “She doesn’t go to school to do anything but sleep ó that is her time to catch up on her rest because her full-time job is trolling the bars at night for sugar daddies.”

And that is not her ideal teacher.

A good teacher “is someone who actually teaches,” according to the actress who shared with us her own horrible experience with a bad teacher in high school who bullied her. “I had a teacher who was very mean to me. She was mean but she had a lot of knowledge and was probably a really good teacher of that knowledge but I wasn’t fond of her because she wasn’t nice to me.”

Cameron, who went to the same Long Beach high school with the rapper Snoop Dogg, further related that, “one day she just really pissed me off and that was it, it was over. It was like war. War. Crazy, like pullinghair!”
It wasn’t all that bad in high school for her though. “I had another teacher who was good and super nice but wasn’t interested in teaching. The thing that stood out to me was how well he treated everyone and how much fun I had in his class and that meant more to me and gave me more in my life than the teacher who wasn’t nice.”

And if you ask Cameron if she goes visit her old high school, the answer is, “No, I don’t.”

Justin was lucky he didn’t have to contend with nasty teachers in high school. The actor, who is currently on hiatus from his music career, was at the peak of his N’Sync career during his high school years that he took classes on the road.

“I was touring the world at the time that I was going through high school. I did my studies on the road and I did get to see the places in person that I was learning about. It was a pretty, pretty cool high school experience.”
Does Justin think he missed something by missing the kind of fun one could only have by going to an actual campus?

“No, I don’t,” he replied with a noticeable change in his voice; he turned a bit serious. “I don’t actually feel like I missed out. In fact, I feel like a gained a lot. There’s nothing really to do in Memphis, Tennessee but either get arrested or get someone pregnant so I got some tattoos on the road ó that was my life commitment.”

But Justin credits Memphis for his talent in writing and making music ó to which, Cameron completely agrees.

My Amigo review/coverage

Story of Filipinos from an American perspective By Raymond de Asis Lo, L.A. Correspondent (The Philippine Star) Updated August 29, 2011 12:00 AM

Joel Torre (with co-producer Margie Templo): Director John Sayles is an anti-imperialist| Zoom

“John is an anti-imperialist,” declared Joel Torre during the brief Q&A session after the recent screening of Amigo in Santa Monica, California.

The Filipino actor was addressing a question from an audience member who asked how John Sayles, the American writer and director of the movie, came to know of the United States’ aggressive territorial expansion into the pacific at the turn of the 20th century and what was his motivation in bringing the story to the big screen.

John was not present during the screening (he was scheduled to appear the following week for another Q&A session) and Joel had to answer on John’s behalf. His co-producer Margie Templo joined him on stage.

The screening drew Filipinos and Americans who applauded enthusiastically at the end of the screening and gave Joel another resounding applause when he took to the stage.

In Amigo, Joel portrays Rafael Dacanay, the amigo in the title — and the Cabeza de Baranggay of the fictional town of San Isidro, who was caught in the middle of the war between the invading Americans and the Filipino guerillas who were trying todrive the invaders away from Philippine soil.

The movie is told from his character’s perspective and in some way illustrates how the modern Filipino psyche came to be — his constant struggle for independence and freedom yet always falling to the ways of the old. Apparently, the Filipino from a century ago is not quite different from the modern Filipino. We are easy targets for oppression because half of us want independence by surrendering our ideals while the others believe in sacrificing their lives for total and complete independence.

Oscar-nominated director John’s in-depth and revealing movie may not be a historically accurate account of what really transpired during that period but by telling the story of Amigo and showing how the Americans used Filipino spies to betray their compatriots, John made a clear point that no successful invaders get to rule a nation when the citizens of the country are united against it.

The greatest tragedy in the story is not how the Philippines fell quickly into the hands of another foreign invader just after gaining independence from the Spaniards but in how easily the Filipinos took for granted the heroism of the likes of Andres Bonifacio. When the small barrio decided to hold a fiesta celebration in the middle of the war, the filmmakers seem to suggest that the Filipinos can be easily manipulated to accept almost anything as long as they get to hold a party.

During the American occupation, “the Philippines lost out a lot but we can’t keep a grudge,” Joel remarked. “We have to move on. It’s a strange dance between the two countries.”

It’s a strange dance indeed: A century after the war, the two countries are still trying to find the perfect dance. Today, an American director is telling the world the story of the Filipino.

Not that there’s no lesson to be learned. The story of the Filipino is a sad reminder of opportunities gained and opportunities lost. When the world finally gets to see the movie and gets to know our history, it will finally understand why the modern Filipino has this dissonant notion of patriotism and confused sense of national identity.

On the surface, the movie is a powerful indictment against war — although, as one friend commented, the narrative seemed to favor more the Americans — there is no denying that the movie condemns war and its unwanted atrocities. But, somehow, if one were to peer closer into the narrative, one would discover that beneath the obvious was the real story of the Filipino-American war. There really was no “Filipino-American” war. The Americans only triumphed because the Filipinos allowed it. The Filipino character was split during the war: Those who fought for the country’s total independence and those who decided to help the enemy and fought for his own self. The subplot featuring the betrayal of Rafael by his envious brother-in-law Nenong is a sad reminder of this contemptible trait.


Amigo was made without the Philippine government offering any help. The director used his own money to finance the movie while Joel and his Philippine crew provided logistics and other support. “This is John’s labor of love,” Joel said who beamed when someone mentioned that the New York Times singled out his performance in a glowing review.

Although American critics have embraced the movie, it is still too early to tell how the movie will play to mainstream American audience. But, if the screening’s reception is any indication, Amigo will definitely have a good box-office run in the US.

In the Philippines, Amigo was released in late 2010 and, not surprisingly, it didn’t get the audience it deserved. One can only surmise what the ordinary Filipinos were busy with during its Philippine theatrical run that only a few individuals took time to support the movie.

The Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino named Amigo one of the best Filipino films of 2010 yet if you poll ordinary folks on the street, all of them would most likely give you a blank face if you ask them if they have seen the movie or if they are aware of the brief war that broke out between the US and the Philippines at the turn of the past century. The indifference of some Filipino to his history is testament to how far we have come as a nation. We will not be truly independent if our sense of history only goes back to, say, the last elections?


Amigo will continue its US theatrical run throughout the months of August and September in key cities.