Kate Winslet never ceases to amaze us–she is so beautiful and such a talented actress! We can’t wait to see what the future has in store for her!  Get all the details at Astrology.com

Happy birthday, Kate Winslet! As a triple Libra (Sun, Moon and ascendant), it’s no wonder your likability lights up the screen! Pluto on your ascendant adds the necessary gravitas for you to be compelling in any role. As the stars settle in your house of marriage, it appears your amicable split with director Sam Mendes will set the stage for a refreshing new beginning in your love life.”

Hand sanitizer companies are going to be thanking Contagion director Steven Soderbergh after this weekend. HollywoodLife.com attended the NYC premiere of the film and it left us terrified. Could all this worrying about how to prevent natural disasters and terrorist attacks have been the least of our concerns? We spoke to the Centers for Disease Control’s Senior Advisor on Crisis Communication Dr. Barbara Reynolds, who says that those of you who dismiss this film as a simple thriller flick are wrong.

“I know it’s pretty surprising but yes this could happen,” Dr. Reynolds tells us. “I think it’s important for people to recognize there’s a threat out there. Not only can it happen, but in different degrees it already has happened. We at the CDC continue to be out in the world looking for the next potential deadly virus.”

The film follows the individual lives of six people — played by Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet and Laurence Fishburne — as they go to great lengths to survive a disease that is rapidly spreading around the world. It’s eventually discovered that the quickly mutating disease was transferred from a bat to a pig then to a human.

“I can tell you that based on what I know, the film unfolds in a realistic way,” Dr. Reynolds says. “It captures the true struggle that would take place if a real deadly virus were to emerge. CDC has people out every week looking for health threats. It’s a scary movie in that regard but people should be reassured that we’re there for them.”

But could a disease break out and rapidly spread across the globe, killing millions within days? Dr. Reynolds reminds us of the Influenza Outbreak of 1918, also known as the Spanish flu. In this influenza pandemic, most victims were healthy, young adults and it killed between 50 and 100 million people. It’s considered to be one of the deadliest natural disasters in history.

“I was in Hong Kong when H5N1 broke out [in 1997],” Dr. Reynolds tells us. “This was a pretty deadly virus, but it hadn’t mutated. When we are looking at viruses, we look at how deadly they are and also we have to look at how easily they transmit. It’s that combination that can turn a virus into a real killer. The most dramatic example of a pandemic would be the 1918 influenza. It killed over 50 million people in the world. With that illness people would get up in the morning and not feel really good and be dead before they got home that night.”

In the movie, epidemiologists at the CDC were working around the clock to find a cure. After testing monkeys and various other specimens, a cure is found. But it takes at least a year for everyone to receive the vaccine.

“We are hoping this movie doesn’t cause hysteria but we hope it shows viruses can kill. Diseases do happen and the CDC is there 24/7.”

Just this last week, the CDC reported two new cases of influenza.

“We found strains of pig, bird and human virus we are monitoring that always have the possibility of turning into something like Contagion,” Dr. Reynolds says. “We detected it through a very strong health care system. Two individuals were suffering from influenza, and lab tests say it’s a different kind of strain. We put out health alerts to our health care providers and we shared that information internationally.”

CHECK OUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS  DR. BARBARA REYNOLDS SAYS YOU NEED TO KNOW IF A PANDEMIC BREAKS OUT!

Who gets the vaccine first?

• “As CDC was planning for a potential pandemic of influenza, we knew we couldn’t develop a vaccine to help everyone at first. So we put the question out there to the public and did public engagement meetings. We laid out the hypothetical situation: a deadly virus and limited amount of vaccines. People recognized that some people need it first and the ones that we put into our recommendations were: health care workers first. This is because we want the people who can help us get it first. Certain positions in our society need to be protected like utility workers. These people that keep our electricity running, etc. Then those that are most susceptible. I can’t say for sure how it would go. But I would say decisions would need to be made. When we create a vaccine we share it across the states, and local decision could be made too. We give guidance as to how the vaccine could be distributed.”

What should you do if this happens to you and how do you prevent things like this from happening?

• “The first thing we would ask you to do is distance yourself from each other. We’d ask you to be very vigilant about washing hands and not touching your eyes, nose and mouth. If you did become sick you’d need to stay home. We don’t want people to become obsessive, but you should get vaccinated. 36,000 Americans die from influenza in a regular season. Protect your health, exercise, eat well, get sleep.”

Could you really wait almost a year to get a vaccine for a virus that’s killing millions?

• “It’s tragic isn’t it? To see how vulnerable we can be. We have good science, vaccines can be developed, we are on the cusp of making them quicker and more easily. We are using some technology that is half a century old! Science wants to move as quickly as possible. Look at HIV, how long has it been affecting humans? We still don’t have a better vaccine. For the influenza virus, it takes about six months for us to develop and mass produce a vaccine.”

— Chloe Melas

Get MORE News HERE!

1. ‘Contagion’ Hits Theaters & Hollywoodlife’s Bonnie Fuller Says It’s ‘Gripping’ But Warns: Get Your Hand Sanitizer Ready!
2. Watch Gwyneth Paltrow Die In The ‘Contagion’ Trailer!
3. Venice Film Festival 2011: Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet & More Get Gorgeous In Gowns!

If you thought hurricanes, earthquakes and terrorist attacks were all you needed to worry about — think again! HollywoodLife.com attended the NYC premiere of Contagion and not only did we find it riveting our Editor-in-Chief Bonnie Fuller calls it “incredibly gripping!” The film is about a deadly unknown pandemic that starts in Hong Kong and spreads all across the globe killing a hundreds of millions of people. It turns out it was transferred from bats to pigs to people. Scared yet?

The best thing about it was it’s plausibility – yes, a deadly pandemic like this could happen –  and that you get to see usually gorgeous-to-perfection actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Winslett looking truly god awful. Of course, it makes you realize  a deadly , fast-moving contagious disease could totally disrupt our  fairly smoothly working world. Now, read the reviews and check out the film!

Jason Solomons for the Guardian: “I was shuffling nervously in my seat, edging away from the sniffling man next to me. Nobody shook hands or embraced after this screening… This is a straight-up movie, serious but, crucially, also slightly silly in the knowing Soderbergh style, always aware that it’s a disaster movie, not a documentary.” Grade: 3 out of 5 stars

Oliver Lyttelton at indieWIRE: “Soderbergh creates a kind of tapestry of illness and panic, and the structure works like a charm, the film moving like a train, crossing continents and characters in a cut… the film is the kind of smart, grown-up entertainment that mostly doesn’t get made anymore, a firmly entertaining, commercial project made with impeccable craft… it’s also got a good deal of substance going for it, and it lingers on the mind, and on the skin, for some time afterwards.” Grade: A-

Alison Wilmore at MovieLine: “Contagion marks time in numbers, tracking how long it’s been since the virus first appeared — Day 2, Day 26, Day 141 — but tracking people in numbers too, noting the populations of each new city at which it and the illness arrives. Hong Kong, London, Chicago, Tokyo — the ease and speed with which MEV-1 spreads is a reminder that we’re living in a global society, one through which information can pass as quickly as infection. And given the teeming, impersonal masses through which the first sick characters stumble, the film’s affirmation of the connection humanity provides us is unexpectedly uplifting, the elements we have in common holding up against the animal chaos of a blind drive for survival.”

Todd McCarthy at The Hollywood Reporter: A shrewd, unsensationalistic, non-visual effects-dependent global disaster melodrama, Contagion creates a credible picture of how the world might react (and, up to a point, has reacted) in the face of a rapidily [sic] spreading mystery disease for which no cure exists.. the fine cast, likely solid critical reaction and undeniable topicality position this as a robust B.O. performer for the early fall season.”

David Gritten for Thompson on Hollywood: “It was well received, but… Contagion felt more like a superior studio thriller than a festival awards contender. On its own terms, it’s satisfying… its story is alarmingly believable and it dwells on the science involved in combating such a virus… anyone remotely concerned about the risk of infection in crowded public places may regard Contagion as a thoroughly believable horror movie.”

Manohla Dargis for The New York Times: The virus seriously rattles your nerves, and you may want to start stockpiling antibacterial soap now. Yet what’s really scary in “Contagion” is how fast once-humming airports and offices, homes and cities empty out when push comes to shove comes to panic in the streets.

The film hits theaters Sept. 9!

Click here to view the embedded video.

— Chloe Melas

Gwyneth Paltrow‘s life is fascinating. The 38-year-old actress and wife of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin could be one of those cold, closed-off celebrities that are too important and famous to connect with their adoring fans. But Gwyneth flawlessly dispels some of the notions you’ve had of a Hollywood A-lister. Yes, she goes on fabulous vacations all around the world, wears the best clothes, and has the world at her fingertips. But in her newly released Goop newsletter, Gwyn allows us to live vicariously through her yet again. Rare for such a famous celeb.

Gwyneth flew to Italy for the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 3 for the premiere of her upcoming Steven Soderbergh directed thriller Contagion. It’s worth mentioning I attended the NYC premiere on Sept. 7 in NYC and found it riveting. Although Gwyneth was only in Venice for a mere 48 hours, she managed to hang out with her long-time friend and co-star Matt Damon, eat a lobster salad that almost looked to beautiful to eat, AND ride through the city’s famous canals. Sounds amazing, but Gwyn’s Goop shows it’s not all fun.

Gwyn’s life may appear to some to be just one big expensive playground — and it sort of is. But the mom-of-two really is working. Gwyneth documented almost every waking moment, including her sans makeup and jet lagged face — so real! The pics show a glamourous life but she also let’s us in on the not so glam things like — she did 32 interviews! I’m not feeling sorry for her at all, trust me. But this is all definitely refreshing.

Gwyneth lives an elite and very exclusive lifestyle with homes in London, LA, and NYC — and has famous friends like Beyonce and Jay Z. But deep down Gwyneth is just working like the rest of us — she just wears better clothes and has a much bigger paycheck!

More celebs should take a lesson — here’s a tip of my hat to you Gwyneth Paltrow!

— Chloe Melas

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Dressed to impress, Marion Cottilard sure has an impeccable sense of style, but her hair looked more Heidi than Heidi Klum. What do YOU think of the style?

She styled her hair in a cute milkmaid braided updo which I thought suited her well, but may have not been appropriate for the dress she was wearing.

Do you think this old school hairstyle will become the next biggest trend in Hollywood hair?

Matt Damon, Kate Winslet and Jude Law headline the A-list trailer for Steven Soderbergh’s new apocalyptic thriller — and it looks super-scary!

Gwyneth Paltrow has been riding high off her association with Glee, but she dies in the trailer of her latest movie Contagion!

Gwyneth is patient zero in the high-profile bird flu film, which also stars Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law and Kate Winslet.

What do you think, HollywoodLifers — will you go see Contagion?

– William Earl

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