DiscoverConfronting CoronavirusHow Contagion predicted a pandemic - with screenwriter Scott Z. Burns and Dr Ian Lipkin
How Contagion predicted a pandemic - with screenwriter Scott Z. Burns and Dr Ian Lipkin

How Contagion predicted a pandemic - with screenwriter Scott Z. Burns and Dr Ian Lipkin

Update: 2020-06-12
Share

Description

In this episode, Irish Times Features Writer Patrick Freyne brings us back to the year 2011 and the release of the scientific thriller movie Contagion. Starring Matt Damon, Contagion tells the story of a deadly virus which explodes into a global pandemic, bringing society to its knees. Nine years on, in the midst of our own virus outbreak, it all feels eerily familiar. Freyne catches up with Contagion’s screenwriter Scott Z. Burns and the virologist who advised the script and plotline for the movie, Dr Ian Lipkin. The pair explain how their working relationship began over a couple of cocktails in a Manhattan bar and was sealed on the agreement that this pandemic movie would be grounded in science rather than blockbuster action. So, nine years on from its release, what it is like looking back on Contagion for Burns and Lipkin? Has the pandemic played out like they expected both scientifically and politically?
Comments 
In Channel
loading
00:00
00:00
x

0.5x

0.8x

1.0x

1.25x

1.5x

2.0x

3.0x

Sleep Timer

Off

End of Episode

5 Minutes

10 Minutes

15 Minutes

30 Minutes

45 Minutes

60 Minutes

120 Minutes

How Contagion predicted a pandemic - with screenwriter Scott Z. Burns and Dr Ian Lipkin

How Contagion predicted a pandemic - with screenwriter Scott Z. Burns and Dr Ian Lipkin

The Irish Times