Kate Winslet's role in Contagion prepared her for Covid-19 pandemic

Kate Winslet's role in Contagion prepared her to deal with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Director Steven Soderbergh's thriller, released in 2011, followed the spread of an unknown, deadly respiratory virus across the world, and also starred Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, and Bryan Cranston.

Kate played Epidemic Intelligence Service officer Dr. Erin Mears in the film, who was tasked with tracing everyone who had contact with one of the victims, before she tragically succumbed to the virus herself.

And the actress told The Hollywood Reporter that preparing for the role, in which she spent time with epidemiologists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), prompted her to start wearing face masks in public back in February.

“People thought I was crazy because I had been walking around Philadelphia wearing a mask for weeks, going into the grocery store and wiping everything down with isopropyl alcohol and wearing gloves,” Kate explained. "Then all of a sudden March 13 came around, and people were like, 'F**k, where do I get one of those masks?'"

Her early caution over the spread of the virus proved effective, and she said it was a personality trait that also helped her to mobilise when she began to hear reports of the virus in Wuhan, China.

“I think it’s the unknown element of this virus – we just don’t know how it’s going to affect any given individual – I think that was what’s so terrifying,” Kate added. “I’m a very practical, straightforward person, and if I have to respond to an emergency, I just go into that zone.”