After months of anticipation, we’re finally getting our first look at one of the year’s most unique movies. On the heels of its recent screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, the full-length trailer for Downsizing has now been published online. The film, which tells the story of a radical new system to curb overpopulation, is the work of acclaimed writer-director Alexander Payne, who has helmed award-winning films like Election (1999), About Schmidt (2002), Sideways (2004), The Descendants (2011), and more recently, Nebraska (2013).
Despite this eclectic resume, Downsizing is already shaping up to be Payne’s most ambitious cinematic venture yet, with a wacky plot that blends humour, self-reflection, and the very nature of humanity. The flick is being described to press as a “satirical science fiction comedy”, and tells the tale of scientists who shrink down humans to combat a serious population crisis. Downsizing has a stellar cast including Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz, and Saturday Night Live alumni Jason Sudeikis and Kristen Wiig.
Payne sat down with Deadline last week and told the publication that an idea for the movie has been in the back of his mind for a while now. “My co-writer Jim Taylor and his brother had often mused about how much better our lives would be if we were able to shrink…” he told Deadline, “…how much bigger our houses could be, how much cheaper food would be, and so forth…we thought it was a pretty good premise for a lot of reasons.”
You can check out the trailer for Downsizing below via Paramount Pictures. The movie will have its first wide release on December 22.
