Matt Damon, Germophobe?

Is Matt Damon seriously germophobic? The Contagion star sported his new bald look (he recently shaved his head for his next film, Elysium) alongside beautiful wife Luciana at the New York premiere of the Steven Soderbergh thriller Wednesday night, and he told ET he's a much more avid hand-washer these days.

"I do kind of appreciate germs -- we need 'em, our kids need 'em, and we need to build up our immunities, but I definitely wash my hands more than I did before reading the script," said Matt. "Steven literally sent me the script with a note that said, 'Read this, then wash your hands.' You can't un-ring that bell -- once you've seen it, it definitely affects you."

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Matt's co-stars Marion Cotillard, Jennifer Ehle and Sanaa Lathan attended the premiere, and Sanaa shared, "Working on this movie I was washing my hands a lot more thasn usual, and I bought a lot of hand sanitizer. That's definitely a staple in my purse now."

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In theaters and IMAX on Friday, Contagion casts Matt as an everyday parent whose life is changed forever when his wife (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) contracts a lethal virus. As the fast-moving pandemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself. Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne and Bryan Cranston co-star.