USA Today reports that Stephen Soderbergh, director of the new really-contagious-virus-quickly-kills-a-lot-of-people film, Contagion, now thinks more about disease transfer through foods like a bowl of mixed nuts. In press junket interview, Soderbergh says that the movie, "could do to elevator buttons what Jaws did to the beach."

According to the article,

It also made a huge impact on the cast and crew during filming last year."Well, there was more Purell (hand sanitizer) than I’ve ever seen on a movie set before," Soderbergh says, laughing.

Says [star Matt] Damon, "I’ve done 50-odd movies, and I’ve never seen anything like this."
The real-life education began with [screenwriter Scott Z.] Burns’ intensive research for the script, which involved working with world health experts. He recalls flying to meet film consultant Laurie Garrett, author of The Coming Plague, who was cautious about his potential travel germs.

"I got up when she walked into the room to hug her, and she went, ‘No. We have to observe social distancing,’" Burns says. "I had just gotten off a plane. There was no hugging."

Actress Marion Cotillard was the most affected with her germ education. She concedes that she has always been careful pathogen-wise, bringing her own germ-killing spray to hotel rooms. But after long conversations with Soderbergh, she stepped up her game. Now Cotillard cleans every doorknob in the hotel room and the TV remote control.

"And if I take the remote, I take it with a tissue. Which my friends think is a little weird," she says. "But as soon as I explain, they think about it. And they do the same."Her germ mind-set only got worse when she watched Contagion with studio executives. Cotillard exited quietly to avoid handshakes only to return sheepishly. "I came back and said, ‘I’m so sorry I went away and didn’t even shake hands. I’m just totally freaked out right now.’"

The 1995 movie Outbreak got me interested in disease investigation and epidemiology – which led me to Garrett’s The Coming Plague.