Matt Damon Shrinks Down to Size for Alexander Payne's 'Downsizing'

Some projects get put on the shelf never to be seen again, but it's always exciting when one gets a new lease on life. Years ago Alexander Payne had been developing the high-concept comedy Downsizing, a film that was beyond his technological means at that point in his career. So he set it aside and took on a string of character films like The Descendants and Nebraska. But now Deadline is reporting that Downsizing is back on track and with Matt Damon in the lead role.

Payne co-wrote the film with Jim Taylor (Sideways), and the premise is pretty far out there. Set in a future when people are being shrunk down to prevent the rapid depletion of natural resources, Damon plays a husband who volunteers with his wife to be shrunk, thinking they'll have a better life. Problems arise when she decides against it at he last moment. There's much more to the story than that as Payne is exploring numerous themes on a much larger scale than normal. Paul Giamatti and Reese Witherspoon were set to play the couple in the original version, with Meryl Streep and Sacha Baron Cohen attached, as well. No word on if any of them will return.

The downside is that Damon will have to drop out of Zhang Yimou's action flick The Great Wall, but I think this is a more than worthy trade-off. Damon can be seen in theaters now in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, and will next shoot Ridley Scott's The Martian.