Actor Jude Law says he was ‘warned about global pandemic’ in 2011

The English star of ‘Contagion’ reveals medical experts called the movie a ‘when, not if’ situation

Jude Law in a scene from 'Contagion'. Warner Bros / Shutterstock

Nine years after his film, Contagion was a big hit at the cinema, Jude Law has revealed the medical experts who consulted on the plot issued a stark warning to its stars about "when, not if" the Hollywood movie would become a reality.

The 2011 film, which starred Law alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Kate Winslet and Laurence Fishburne, concerned the spread of a virus transmitted by respiratory droplets. It detailed the race by medical researchers and public health officials to stop the spread of the disease and develop a vaccine, against a backdrop of conspiracy theorists spreading false information.

Jude Law says he was warned about a global pandemic while on the set of 'Contagion' in 2011. AFP

And speaking on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the actor revealed how top virologists who worked with famed director Steven Soderbergh, spoke of the film's events, in which 26 million people were killed, occurring in real life as merely a matter of time.

“On that film were the doctors and virologists advising us, extraordinary men, and they were all saying to us this is a matter of when, not if,” said the 47-year-old star. “I remember leaving the whole experience thinking you touch yourself on your face 10,000 times a day, we don’t wash our hands, it was all embedded in me. But it all slowly percolates away.”

The actor, who last week welcomed his sixth child, his first with wife Phillipa Coan, admits he has been surprised at how popular the film has become now it's available on Netflix, and earlier this year distributor Warner Bros revealed it was its most in-demand film after the Harry Potter movies.

"I found it a little odd that everyone went back to watch [Contagion] in the middle of the real thing," he said. "You just turn on the news, you don't need to watch it."