While “Blofeld meets Bourne” is probably not how Alexander Payne will be talking about Downsizing, his next film will be bringing the men behind those characters together, so we can. Christoph Waltz has signed up to co-star alongside Matt Damon in a yet-to-be-defined role. Inherent Vice's Hong Chau has also joined the project.
Damon plays another of Payne's Omaha men, a man whose money struggles lead him to shrink himself as the ultimatum cost-saving device. As a tiny person he meets a woman played by Reese Witherspoon, and the pair saddle up a pair of flying ants to foil a dastardly plot. Or, more likely, commune with other shrunken communities in an oblique comment on the inequalities of modern America.
Payne is not a man who makes duds. From Citizen Ruth to Nebraska, his CV is a uniformly stinker-less document illuminated by canny casting picks (Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt, Reese Witherspoon in Election) and smartly-told tales of modern Americana.
This one is co-scripted with Sideways writing partner Jim Taylor and will be with us some time in later 2017. The shot gets underway next spring. Honey, I Shrunk The Economy? Maybe.