Steven Soderbergh on the pills and thrills of 'Side Effects'

Steven Soderbergh on the pills and thrills of 'Side Effects'

Barry Wetcher/Barry Wetcher

Director Steven Soderbergh and Rooney Mara discuss a scene on the set of 'Side Effects'

Director Steven Soderbergh deadpans how he’d like his new psycho-pharmacological thriller, “Side Effects,” to affect moviegoers: “If we can do for medicine cabinets what ‘Jaws’ did for the beach, that would be awesome.”

To that end, he reteamed with star Jude Law and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns, who worked with the filmmaker on 2011’s germaphobe hit, “Contagion .” Now “Side Effects” tells the story of a Manhattan shrink (Law) who prescribes a new antidepressant to a seemingly suicidal patient (Rooney Mara) â€" with disastrous results.

For the millions of Americans taking mood-altering medications, “Side Effects” could induce even more anxiety, and that’s exactly what the filmmakers want. Explains Burns, “What makes the ride more enjoyable and a bit of a mindfâ€" is that it’s through a landscape that’s so familiar.”

The film is full of sudden twists and turns, and the audience’s shifting sympathies helped lure Law back into Soderbergh’s big-screen repertory company.

“You, as a viewer, are challenged by how you feel about my character at different times,” Law says. “It’s very fulfilling to play a man with many facets.”

After her Oscar-nominated work in 2011’s “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” Mara had no fear about jumping into another dark role, especially since it’s a different shade.

“In ‘Tattoo,’ it was like she played someone from another planet â€" a total alien,” Soderbergh says. “In this, she’s the girl on the subway next to you. I thought it would be a great 180-degree turn for her.”

Mara’s chillingly calm “Effects” performance proved all-too-convincing for co-star Channing Tatum, who plays her freshly paroled stockbroker husband.

“One day, Channing said to me, ‘Rooney’s scaring the sâ€" out of me!’” Soderbergh recalls with a laugh. “He said, ‘When she gets all doll-eyed, it freaks me out.’ I said, ‘Well, you’ve just got to roll with that.’”

Tatum, who starred in Soderbergh’s male-stripper flick “Magic Mike” last year â€" a movie based on Tatum’s own youthful experiences shedding his clothes for cash â€" is also looking to up his game with “Side Effects.”

“Channing’s looks and general assets are what got him here,” says Soderbergh, “and now he’s smart enough to want to take advantage of that and expand his range.”

The film’s thematic terrain felt like familiar ground to Catherine Zeta-Jones, who co-stars as Mara’s former shrink, a woman who harbors some secrets of her own. The actress has openly discussed her own real-life struggles with bipolar disorder.

“That may have been part of her curiosity in getting involved with ‘Side Effects,’” notes Burns. “She’s comfortable wading into these waters, which was really brave of her.”

The screenplay boldly name-drops real drugs like Zoloft and Effexor, but for legal reasons, the medication that sets the plot in motion had to be a fictional one: “Ablixa.”

It was clear from the start that the movie would need a real-sounding but fictional product. The multimillion-dollar pharmaceutical industry, Soderbergh notes, “has got to protect their brands. They’ll have your head on a stick.”