‘We Bought a Zoo’ follows a single dad (Matt Damon) who decides his family needs a fresh start, so he and his two children move to the most unlikely of places: a zoo. With the help of an eclectic staff, and with many misadventures along the way, the family works to return the dilapidated zoo to its former wonder and glory. Directed by Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky), ‘We Bought a Zoo’ features a stellar cast in Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Colin Ford, Patrick Fugit and Elle Fanning, the film is based on Benjamin Mee’s epicly titled memoir “We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Changed Their Lives Forever.” ’We Bought a Zoo’ is set for release December 23rd in the US, and March 30th 2012 in the UK. Check out what Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson had to say below.

You’ve worked with a number of acclaimed filmmakers. What do you thinks sets Cameron Crow apart from the others?

Matt Damon: There’s a few things, but there’s a lot that makes him similar to all these other great directors. The most important thing being that every great director I’ve worked with has been very open to any suggestions from their crew and their cast. They all understand that it’s basically a benevolent dictatorship (laughs). So while they have an idea, and a plan for how things will go, they’re open to a better idea at any given moment. It can come from anywhere. There ego isn’t involved in that way, they’re not threatened in any way by other peoples ideas. So what happens is that you end up with an environment where everyone is coming to work with their very best ideas. The director is under a constant barrage of these ideas, and occasionally some of them take hold. As a result of this, the environment is really electric, everyone feels like they can contribute in a big way.

With Cameron, obviously he’s a writer and director. He’s got a very unique voice, and a very unique kind of gift that he wants to give a movie going audience. In this case he saw it as a piece of joy, he saw ‘We Bought a Zoo’ as a piece of joy and that’s what he wanted to give. He felt like it was an important time for that. So we all felt like we were there to help him put out that into the world, which was cool. Then technically, he plays music in-between takes and while you’re shooting – I’ve never seen anybody do that (laughs). But it was really helpful, there’s something about music that goes right to your emotions, it kind of circumnavigates the rational part of your brain, goes right to your heart. That way of working was really helpful with some of the more emotional scenes.

Kelly & Ben’s dynamic isn’t the conventional Hollywood relationship…..

Scarlett Johansson: I think the relationship between Kelly and Ben really starts off as a relationship between two people who are working together. There’s a kind of practicality to their relationship, and I think their love for one another, their platonic love for one another grows into something else as a by product of two people working towards this seemingly larger than life goal – and accomplishing it together.

I can imagine playing Kelly was a joy? Also, how was it for you working with the animals?

Scarlett Johansson: She was great. I think she has a lot of chutzpah (laughs), she’s got a lot of oomph, she’s up for the task, she’s ready to get dirty, she’s got a kind of zest for what she does. Kelly is up for any task and challenge that might come her way. She’s a very practical person, I think she’s good natured, and I think she tends to pick animals over people (laughs). She’s very much a person who gets it done, she leaves no loose ends. Playing her I learnt that a great zoo keeper needs a great pair of boots (laughs)!

I love animals. Of course, it’s hard to work with animals, because they’re not on the same routine exactly and you never know what to expect. They’re unpredictable, but I think that we all had such a respect for the animals that were working on the film. It was a very relaxed sort of environment and I don’t really know how to describe it, but I think it’s captured in the film. It’s like everyone on the set was so respectful and enthusiastic and kind of loving towards the animal community that was a part of the film.

Were there any animals you had trouble with at first?

Matt Damon: Snakes (laughs)! The snakes, I was actually much more nervous about the snakes than I was the grizzly bear, until Scarlett started making fun of me (laughs). Then I tried to get over it as best I could. I think it was something about there being so many and watching the little kids handle them. Eventually I kind of got over it and was okay with it.

These seven new clips have emerged online from writer/director Cameron Crowe’s (Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky)  upcoming film ‘We Bought a Zoo.’ Featuring a stellar cast in Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Colin Ford, Patrick Fugit and Elle Fanning, the film is based on Benjamin Mee’s epicly titled memoir “We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Changed Their Lives Forever.”

The story follows a single dad (Matt Damon) who decides his family needs a fresh start, so he and his two children move to the most unlikely of places: a zoo. With the help of an eclectic staff, and with many misadventures along the way, the family works to return the dilapidated zoo to its former wonder and glory. ‘We Bought a Zoo’ is set for release December 23rd in the US, and March 30th 2012 in the UK. Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi will be scoring the film.

Yahoo! Movies has debuted this new clip from writer/director Cameron Crowe’s (Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky)  upcoming film ‘We Bought a Zoo.’ Featuring a fine cast in Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Colin Ford, Patrick Fugit and Elle Fanning, the film is based on Benjamin Mee’s epicly titled memoir “We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Changed Their Lives Forever.”

The story follows a single dad (Matt Damon) who decides his family needs a fresh start, so he and his two children move to the most unlikely of places: a zoo. With the help of an eclectic staff, and with many misadventures along the way, the family works to return the dilapidated zoo to its former wonder and glory. ‘We Bought a Zoo’ is set for release December 23rd in the US and March 30th 2012 in the UK. Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi will be scoring the film.

Twentieth Century Fox has sent me over these four new images from writer/director Cameron Crowe’s (Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky)  upcoming film ‘We Bought a Zoo.’ Featuring a fine cast in Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Colin Ford, Patrick Fugit and Elle Fanning, the film is based on Benjamin Mee’s epicly titled memoir “We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Changed Their Lives Forever.”

The story follows a single dad (Matt Damon) who decides his family needs a fresh start, so he and his two children move to the most unlikely of places: a zoo. With the help of an eclectic staff, and with many misadventures along the way, the family works to return the dilapidated zoo to its former wonder and glory. ‘We Bought a Zoo’ is set for release December 23rd in the US and March 30th 2012 in the UK. Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi will be scoring the film. Check out the international trailer here.

This new international trailer has emerged online for writer/director Cameron Crowe’s (Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky)  upcoming film ‘We Bought a Zoo.’ Featuring a fine cast in Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Colin Ford, Patrick Fugit and Elle Fanning, the film is based on Benjamin Mee’s epicly titled memoir “We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Changed Their Lives Forever.”

The story follows a single dad (Matt Damon) who decides his family needs a fresh start, so he and his two children move to the most unlikely of places: a zoo. With the help of an eclectic staff, and with many misadventures along the way, the family works to return the dilapidated zoo to its former wonder and glory.‘We Bought a Zoo’ is set for release December 23rd. Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi will be scoring the film.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh from an original screenplay by Scott Z. Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum,The Informant!), ‘Contagion’ follows the rapid progress of a lethal airborne virus that kills within days. As the fast-moving epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself. At the same time, ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart. The film boasts an all-star cast including Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Ehle, Marion Cotillard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bryan Cranston, Demitri Martin, Sanaa Lathan and Elliott Gould. ‘Contagion’ is out now.

This cast for this film is amazing, however it seems like you didn’t get to work with many them…

Matt Damon: I literally bumped into Laurence Fishburne at the Hotel Bar while shooting (laughs). I’ve wanted to work with him forever, I said to him, ‘I’m finally in a movie with you and I don’t have any scene’s with you,’ (laughs). Jude Law and I worked together a dozen years ago and loved that. It’s funny you know, it’s one of those movies where people go, ‘Oh, what’s Contagion?’ I reply, ‘It’s a movie I’m doing with Jude Law, and Kate Winslet, and Laurence Fishburne, and Marion Cotillard…..’ and they go ‘WOW, that’s awesome!’ Then I have to say, ‘Yeah, but I don’t work with anyone of them,’ (laughs). I have a scene with Kate Winslet, a little bit with Gwyneth Paltrow. But at least I’m in a movie with all these people, I appreciate the fact that I get to see their work, even if I don’t get to be there and do it with them.

Jude, can you tell us about your character’s convictions, and his view on government controls?

Jude Law: He’s a campaigner for freedom of speech, but also conspiracy theories. I think unfortunately his ego and his pride get in the way of his convictions. I think he has an inbuilt reaction to government backed vaccination programmes, and government backed research. He has a cynical view of the legal process, and the governmental process behind investigation on medical issues. So I think that often leads him into areas of alternatives, then raising alternatives and watching them be covered up. Where he’s very interesting to this story is that he does actually get the lead on everyone else, he sees something before everyone else, therefore he has the run on them for quite a while.

Laurence, your character, Dr. Ellis Cheever, how is he involved in the story?

Laurence Fishburne: He’s the head of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), he’s the man responsible for sending people out into the field to figure out what this virus is, where the virus came from, what the virus is not, how to combat the virus and how to produce a vaccine for the virus. He’s got a lot of responsibility. He’s also the face of the CDC, so when people are asking, the media are asking, ‘What is this thing?’ He’s the guy that is supposed to have the answers, and share the information in such a way that people are informed but that they don’t panic.

That’s a really interesting part of this movie, the question of how do you handle information and misinformation, how do you deal with bloggers, how do you release what you know or what you think you know? Information is key.

Laurence Fishburne: Definitely, information is power. Information in the age we live in now is currency, people are using it as a power tool, using it as currency. And I mean that in terms of when you talk about Bloggers and you talk about the internet. Whereas information should really be disseminated in such a way that it’s specific, honest and true. It should be verifiable, unfortunately sometimes it’s not (laughs).

There’s some powerful scenes with your character in the film, the hospital scene definitely comes to mind.…

Matt Damon: The scene in the hospital, where I find out my wife died, that was an on the spot re-write that Scott did based on conversations we were having with a real ER doctor who had had this conversation many times. I’m really proud of that scene because I’ve never seen that scene done that way, that’s a very common scene you see in movies. It’s very honest, that reaction of not being able to even comprehend the information that has just been given to you is as common as just turning into a blubbering mess, according to these Doctors who do this all the time. So there’s this other really strange reaction we get which is that we have to be explicitly explained that somebody is dead, because the person isn’t registering it, the person is like, ‘Ok, can I just talk to her?’ It doesn’t register, we wrote it out based on these interactions, and that’s how it is working with Steven Soderbergh, he always wants to find a real but interesting way to tell a story.

How was it working with Steven Soderbergh?

Jude Law: I’ve wanted to work with Steven Soderbergh for many years, many many years (laughs). It’s been a really terrific experience, he brings incredible composure, and confidence, and fun to a set. He has a very unique process of…..because he’s also looking as director of photography and operator, he has a very beautiful and intimate way of choosing his shots. I felt that absolutely intensified the relationship a director has with an actor, where they’re viewing you absolutely in the moment.

Laurence Fishburne: Steven is amazingly fast, incredibly intuitive, I think he really has this gift of knowing what not to say to actors. He’s really intelligent enough to lay back and observe what we’re bringing, and then to take his camera and find the best vantage point from which to capture what’s going on. A very bright man, lighting quick, technically proficient, and really fun to work with.

This debut trailer has emerged online for writer/director Cameron Crowe’s (Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky)  upcoming film ‘We Bought a Zoo.’ Featuring a fine cast in Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Colin Ford, Patrick Fugit and Elle Fanning, the film is based on Benjamin Mee’s epicly titled memoir “We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Changed Their Lives Forever.” The story tells how Mee and his family used their life savings to buy a dilapidated zoo, replete with 200 exotic animals facing destruction, in the south-west of England.

Cameron Crowe fans are truly in for a treat this year, along with ‘We Bought a Zoo’ he is also set to release his Elton John/Leon Russell/T-Bone Burnett documentary ‘The Union,’ along with ‘Pearl Jam Twenty,’ a documentary marking Pearl Jam’s 20th anniversary in 2011. ‘We Bought a Zoo’ is set for release December 23rd. Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi will be scoring the film.

This holiday season, acclaimed filmmaker Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous) directs an amazing and true story about a single dad who decides his family needs a fresh start, so he and his two children move to the most unlikely of places: a zoo. With the help of an eclectic staff, and with many misadventures along the way, the family works to return the dilapidated zoo to its former wonder and glory.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh from an original screenplay by Scott Z. Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum,The Informant!), ‘Contagion’ follows the rapid progress of a lethal airborne virus that kills within days. As the fast-moving epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself. At the same time, ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart. Laurence Fishburne stars as Dr. Ellis Cheever alongside a stellar cast which includes the likes of Matt Damon, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Ehle, Marion Cotillard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bryan Cranston, Demitri Martin, Sanaa Lathan and Elliott Gould. ‘Contagion’ opens September 9th in the US, and October 21st in the UK. Check out what Laurence Fishburne had to say about the film below.

Your character, Dr. Ellis Cheever, how is he involved in the story?

Laurence Fishburne: He’s the head of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), he’s the man responsible for sending people out into the field to figure out what this virus is, where the virus came from, what the virus is not, how to combat the virus and how to produce a vaccine for the virus. He’s got a lot of responsibility. He’s also the face of the CDC, so when people are asking, the media are asking, ‘what is this thing?’ He’s the guy that is supposed to have the answers, and share the information in such a way that people are informed but that they don’t panic.

That’s a really interesting part of this movie, the question of how do you handle information and misinformation, how do you deal with bloggers, how do you release what you know or what you think you know? Information is key.

Laurence Fishburne: Definitely, information is power. Information in the age we live in now is currency, people are using it as a power tool, using it as currency. And I mean that in terms of when you talk about Bloggers and you talk about the internet. Whereas information should really be disseminated in such a way that it’s specific, honest and true. It should be verifiable, unfortunately sometimes it’s not (laughs).

What was it about ‘Contagion’ that appealed to you?

Laurence Fishburne: When I read the script I was struck by how smart it was, I loved the fact that it was international, it really has global scope. But at the same time it’s very intimate, it’s this big, global, international thing, but at the same time it focuses on these characters in a really intimate way so you become involved in these peoples lives….at not such a great time in their lives.

How do you prepare for a role like this, a man with so much responsibility?

Laurence Fishburne: I met with Dr Lipkin, I talked to him, he explained to me what the position means, it was fairly easy for me to grasp that. So as Morgan Freeman says, learn the lines and get on with it (laughs).

Talking about information, an interesting part of it is how you deal with privileged information?

Laurence Fishburne: That’s right, that’s when you get involved with the intimate side of Cheever’s life, because up until that moment he’s dealing with…..in the role of the CDC, in that one moment where he discloses information to a loved one he sort of breaks the line, and crosses the line, he breaks protocol, he acts as a human being would, first. The thing about this movie that is so great is that you get to see people not at their best, then you get to see people do these very small, almost heroic things. Everybody has a small moment of heroism really.

Your character works very closely with Kate Winslet and Jennifer Ehle’s characters in ‘Contagion’, what can you say about them?

Laurence Fishburne: Jennifer is wonderful, I really felt great just having someone who’s so gifted to play scenes with, because a lot of the stuff we had to do, it was via telephone or via video conference, there were a lot of big scenes where people were exchanging information in different parts of the world. So a lot of my stuff with Kate was not face to face, it was over the phone, but most of my stuff with Jennifer was right there, face to face. They’re both just tremendous, both really gifted. It was an honour to work with them.

What can you say about Steven Soderbergh as a director?

Laurence Fishburne: Steven is amazingly fast, incredibly intuitive, I think he really has this gift of knowing what not to say to actors. He’s really intelligent enough to lay back and observe what we’re bringing, and then to take his camera and find the best vantage point from which to capture what’s going on. A very bright man, lighting quick, technically proficient, and really fun to work with.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh from an original screenplay by Scott Z. Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum,The Informant!), ‘Contagion’ follows the rapid progress of a lethal airborne virus that kills within days. As the fast-moving epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself. At the same time, ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart. Matt Damon stars as Thomas Emhoff alongside a stellar cast which includes the likes of Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Ehle, Marion Cotillard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lawrence Fishbourne, Bryan Cranston, Demitri Martin, Sanaa Lathan and Elliott Gould. ‘Contagion’ opens September 9th in the US, and October 21st in the UK. Check out what Matt Damon had to say about the film below.

What was your initial reaction when Steven Soderbergh approached you with ‘Contagion‘?

Matt Damon: He was actually way more effusive than normal, Steven Soderbergh is a reserved and generally quiet guy. He called me very excited, I was like, ‘what’s going on?’ He said to me, ‘I just read Scott Burns’ script, Scott just wrote the best thing he’s ever written.’ We had done ‘The Informant!’ with him, I had also done ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ with him, he’s a terrific terrific writer, I hold him in very high regard, so obviously that got me really excited (laughs). Steven sent it over to me and I read it, he didn’t even tell me what role he wanted me for, he just said, ‘there’s a tonne of great roles.’ The three male leads I thought were great, they were really different roles. So I called him back and said, ‘this is great, I’ll do whatever you want, just let me know.’ He thought about how he wanted to cast it and gave me the role of Thomas Emhoff.

He’s probably the character the audience can relate with most of all.

Matt Damon: Yeah, I think he’s the easiest character to relate to in a lot of ways, for the audience and for me playing him. He’s really just a guy trying to keep his daughter alive, I think any parent can relate to that. Working with Steven Soderbergh is just fun, I always enjoy problem solving with him everyday.

There’s some powerful scenes with your character in the film, the hospital scene definitely comes to mind in that regard…

Matt Damon: The scene in the hospital, where I find out my wife died, that was an on-the-spot rewrite that Scott did based on conversations we were having with a real ER doctor who had had this conversation many times. I’m really proud of that scene because I’ve never seen that scene done that way, that’s a very common scene you see in movies. It’s very honest, that reaction of not being able to even comprehend the information that has just been given to you is as common as just turning into a blubbering mess, according to these Doctors who do this all the time. So there’s this other really strange reaction we get which is that we have to be explicitly explained that somebody is dead, because the person isn’t registering it, the person is like, ‘ok, can I just talk to her?’ It doesn’t register, we wrote it out based on these interactions, and that’s how it is working with Steven Soderbergh, he always wants to find a real but interesting way to tell a story.

Earlier in your career you won an Oscar for writing a screenplay, is screenwriting something you’re looking to get back into?

Matt Damon: I’ve thought about it. I haven’t felt like a haven’t been writing for the past twelve years, there’s so much crossover with all the different jobs. Even though I don’t get credit for writing I feel like that part of me is fulfilled, that part of creating is fulfilled because if you’re working in a really great environment, the writer, the director, everybody is there just to come up with the best ideas, the best ways of doing things. It’s a very fluid, creative and great process…..and a shared process. That’s what it felt like when I was writing with Ben Affleck, it was thinking of the best way to come up with each scene, and that’s what I do everyday so I still feel like that part of my being is engaged everyday at work. But having said that I do miss the quiet of sitting down and writing. I talked to Scott Burns about it last night, he said that there is something nice about going first, because you frame the whole thing. I haven’t gone first in a while, I always come in when the template is already there, I just do a bit of adornment (laughs).

Directed by Steven Soderbergh from an original screenplay by Scott Z. Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum,The Informant!), ‘Contagion’ follows the rapid progress of a lethal airborne virus that kills within days. As the fast-moving epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself. At the same time, ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart. Alongside Kate Winslet and Jennifer Ehle includes the likes of Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon Gwyneth Paltrow, Lawrence Fishbourne, Bryan Cranston, Demitri Martin, Sanaa Lathan and Elliott Gould. ‘Contagion’ opens September 9th in the US, and October 21st in the UK.

There are so many facets to ‘Contagion’, how was it for you when you first read the script?

Kate Winslet: Scott Burns is an incredibly gifted screenwriter, what I think is so clever about the script, aside from the multiple characters and multiple story lines, is that it’s perfectly plausible to follow the narrative from the word go. I never felt confused by anything at all, I knew exactly what every character was doing. He’s also extremely deft at including the science, but never overwhelming the audience with that science. So it doesn’t feel intimidating, or something that you feel like you have to tune out of at certain points because you don’t understand.

Jennifer Ehle: The script was so intelligent, so thrilling and so compulsively readable.

Can you tell us a little bit about your character, and the role she plays in ‘Contagion’?

Kate Winslet: These individuals, these medical professionals are sent out into sometimes urban areas, or third world countries, or war zones, when there has been an unexpected outbreak of a new virus. Their job is to find the pathogen of that virus, and therefore develop a vaccine and a programme of protection basically for people to prevent themselves from getting that disease. That is the job that my character does.

How was it researching your respective roles?

Jennifer Ehle: I spent two wonderful mornings up at Columbia University with Dr. Ian Lipkin and his team doing experiments. They talked me through what they would do in this situation if they got a sample. I got to mash everything up, find little tiny pieces, find the DNA of it, it was really extraordinary. The nerd in me completely geeked out (laughs). But also for the character, just to be able to see more than anything, just to see how they held things and how they opened things, how careful they would be.

Kate Winslet: That was a fascinating process researching the role, all the people I got to speak with were incredibly generous with their time, they really explained what this job was to me. I had absolutely no idea. We got to go to CDC and spend time there. I got to sit with epidemic intelligence service officers who are serving now, and also many people who had served many years ago. You have to be incredibly determined to do this job, it’s basically like being a Sherlock Holmes of the medical field, it was absolutely fascinating.

What was the experience like working with Steven Soderbergh?

Jennifer Ehle: His vision and his intelligence is amazing. He just creates a world and it feels so incredibly real. The accuracy they had telling this story, the attention to detail, being in that environment, there was no lighting, there was no lamps, everything was the lighting in the room you were shooting in, so you were completely submerged in the environment. It wonderful having the director of photography and the operator be the director, it’s very intimate.

Kate Winslet: I feel like I got really lucky that they invited me along to play this wonderful character, Dr. Erin Mears. It was a great time shooting. I learnt a lot from Steven Soderbergh, I really hope I keep learning in this way because it keeps everything fresh and different, and it’s why I love this job. Steven Soderbergh works in a very different way to a lot of directors that I’ve worked with in the past. He knows exactly what he needs and what he wants, he’s sort of editing visually in his head all the time. What that means for the actors is that you are able to bring something concise to the table, and not have it be exhausted. Steven works in a really efficient way, not many takes, wrapping really really early – which is just a revelation to me (laughs), because that is not normally the type of gig I end up signing for. He works very collaboratively as well, which I always enjoy. He runs a very tight but low-key ship, great technicians and an incredible crew.